Nobody Said It Was Easy
by Smorsies
Summary: When people scold their friends for staying in an abusive relationship, it's because they don't understand why. This isn't a happy story, but an honest one. It shows how easily the perfect relationship can turn sour and how feelings get mixed up and they don't leave each other. If you or a loved one is suffering like I will make these two suffer, please notify a professional.
1. Chapter 1

This story is dedicated to all those who have been involved in an abusive relationship. Just know that there are people willing to help you and I hope if any of my readers feel this story describes their relationship, they seek help.

Castiel and Dean meet, fall in love, and then everything turns sour. Join me in the tale to telling a story that could help you better understand people's minds in these situations. Hopefully you'll know how to handle them yourself if you need to.

Also, if anyone needs someone to talk, I am always here. I love you guys and I hope everyone is okay.

Chapter one word count: 1,830  
Pairing: Dean/Castiel

* * *

If you put a frog in boiling water it will jump out. If you put a frog in water and slowly heat it up to the boiling point, it will stay there until it dies.

The sky was tinged with a dark, gray looking blue color. The hung thick and you could smell the rain in the air.

Castiel stood outside the coffee shop he worked out, staring at the sky. He liked rainy days. And he liked it even more when there was a storm. He was waiting for the thunder to roll in.

The coffee shop he worked at was a small, hole in the wall place. It only needed two workers on a normal day. "Heavenly Coffee" was the name and it was being put in the process of becoming a chain.

"Castiel, bro. What the hell are you doing?" Castiel cast a look on his co-worker, Gabriel. "Dude, stop being creepy and pensive and get your ass inside. You're going to get electrocuted out here." He stared at the sky.

"Why is that such a bad thing?" Castiel mused nonchalantly and Gabriel rolled his eyes.

"Alright enough there, we can John Coffey your ass later now get inside, we still have a few more hours." Castiel sent him a sideways look and sighed, pushing himself off the side of the building and dragging his feet back inside.

"Were you really concerned for my well-being?" Castiel asked with a pointed look and Gabriel smiled.

"I'm always concerned about you, Castiel. You're so fragile and I don't want someone to kidnap you." Castiel gave him a sour look and sat down at one of the tables. "You alright there, Governor?"

"Fine, I suppose." Was the muttered reply. Not a moment after, it started to rain. Small droplets at first, then it started pouring.

Castiel walked to the window and stared upwards, watching the rain fall down. Gabriel laughed at the people on the sidewalks who started running in an attempt to find shelter.

"You're an ass." Castiel said bluntly.

"Schadenfreude." Was the simple reply. Gabriel took a seat and continued giggling to himself.

With a loud clap of thunder and a flash of lightning across the dark sky, the door opened aggressively and Castiel and Gabriel's attention snapped to the door.

Standing in the door frame was a man, average height and hair darkened with water. He was drenched, head to toe and Gabriel, with no common courtesy, burst out laughing at the man's misfortune.

Castiel sent Gabriel a look but stood up and walked behind the counter.

"Was there something I could get for you?" He asked in a monotone. The stranger kept staring at Gabriel who was crying at this point. He finally rolled his eyes and approached the counter with a smile that could melt someone's heart.

"Yes you could. Can I please get a coffee. Black." He asked and turned around, leaning against the counter. Castiel pulled out his marker, not really caring there was no one else in the store, he maintained his appointed rules.

"Name?" He looked back at Castiel with kind of a smug grin.

"How about you just put your number on it instead?" Castiel could feel his ears and cheeks slowly burn and he looked down at the counter, not knowing how to respond do that.

"Um... I... uh..." He then stared at him awkwardly and the man chuckled, eyes glowing with mirth.

"Dean. My name is Dean." He stared at Castiel's name tag. "Ca-steal." He struggled with the name, eyes squinted. Castiel cleared his throat.

"Castiel. Like the angel of Thursday..." He corrected and Dean grinned at him again.

"Oh, an angel, huh? Is that what makes this coffee so heavenly?" He teased and the blush that finally went away was now brighter than before. Gabriel still sat in the corner giggling like a moron. Castiel, still being socially awkward just stared at Dean like a deer in headlights. He still didn't write Dean's name or his phone number on the cup.

Eventually Castiel inhaled and calmed himself down enough to shakily write 'Dean' on the cup and filled it with coffee. He handed it to Dean and he pulled out his wallet and cursed to himself as he pulled out a wad of sopping wet bills.

"Don't worry. It's on me." Castiel blurred out and Dean gave him another grin.

"Thank you, Cas." Castiel raised an eyebrow. Cas? Is he calling him Cas because he can't pronounce his name or is this a nickname? Castiel never had a nickname before... Actually, Gabriel gave him a few but they weren't very nice...

Dean grabbed the marker from Castiel and took a stray receipt paper and wrote his number down. He then pulled out one of the wet dollar bills and put both into the tip jar and winked at Castiel who stared wide-eyed the whole time.

"Text me, huh?" He grabbed his coffee and walked to the door. He then turned to Castiel. "I mean it." He pointed with a look of determination and gave a cute grin and walked out of the cafe, into the rain.

"Well..." Gabriel broke the silence, looking at Castiel stare at the door even moments after Dean took his leave. "If you weren't gay, I think you are now."

"Shut up, Gabriel..." Castiel grunted and took out the paper and stared at it.

"Looks like someone has a date~!" Gabriel teased and Castiel ignored him just staring at the paper.

He'd never been on a date before. No one really showed him any interest. This was weird for him. Especially with someone as handsome as Dean. There's only one thing Castiel could come up with.

"This is some form of a prank." He announced to himself. Gabriel rose from his seat and walked over to Castiel and smacked him upside the head.

"Are you serious? He was eying you like candy. And you know what I look like when I eye candy. So it was pretty impressive."

"There's no way this is a real phone number." Castiel responded as he continued to stare at it.

Even though he said it a bunch of times, it still made him happy that someone gave him their number. He felt... funny for the first time he knew what it was like to like someone.

&$#!)

A couple of days later, Castiel and Gabriel were cleaning up the store front. Castiel was wiping down the tables that were outside and Gabriel was cleaning windows.

Castiel hadn't responded to the number, thinking it was a fake. He believed no one could want to date someone as awkward as him and ignored Gabriel when he said otherwise. But Gabriel knew it was because Castiel was too afraid to get his heart broken or even be embarrassed.

So when Dean showed up a second time, Castiel was more than surprised.

"Dean?" He stared at Dean unblinkingly and looked extremely scary and awkward but Dean just laughed.

"You never called." He noted as he approached Castiel.

"I believe the terms were to text you." Castiel said quietly and continued to stare at Dean.

"You didn't do that either." Dean countered and Castiel looked at the ground awkwardly.

"I... believed that you had given me a fake number." Castiel replied simply and Dean looked offended.

"Why would I do that?" He asked and Gabriel gave them both an amused look and walked inside the building to give them more privacy.

"Because. No one would want to associate with me." Castiel said simply with no undertone. Just like he was stating a fact.

"I would. Now this time..." He walked closer to Castiel and handed him his phone. "You give _me_ your number."

"How can you be so sure _I_ won't give you a fake number?" Castiel asked curiously.

"Because." Dean smiled cheekily.

Castiel stared blankly at Dean's lame response and slowly took hold of the phone, waiting for Dean to snatch it back and carry it like it was a joke and laugh at him for falling for it. He stared at Dean for a few seconds while holding the phone before finally deciding to put his number in it. He then glanced up and noticed Dean already did him the favor of filling out his name. "Cas"

"Here." Castiel handed Dean the phone back. Dean smiled wide enough for it to rub off on Castiel.

"Oh look, you have dimples. How cute." Dean commented and Castiel looked away, embarrassed. "I'll text _you_later." Dean then sauntered off and Castiel gave him a longing look before staring down at the rag he was holding and smiling to himself.

He walked inside a few moments later and kept checking his phone.

"Sheesh, he gave you his number a few days ago but now that he has yours you keep checking?" Gabriel teased. Castiel just stared at him blankly.

"I dislike you." Castiel murmured and Gabriel just smiled widely back at him.

"That's okay. I know deep down you love me."

A little while before closing was when Castiel got his first message from Dean. Without smiling, his face lit up and he cradled his phone as he stared in awe at the message that proved Dean was actually taking the time out of his day in order to talk to him. Dean actually wanted to talk to him. It wasn't a joke.

Castiel stared at the message for several minutes in amazement and when Gabriel asked what Dean said that was so liberating and he glanced at the screen. All that was written was "hey" and for the first time, Gabriel stared at Castiel like Castiel usually stared at him.

"Really?" You're going bonkers over a 'hey'? Are you kidding? You really are a virgin..." He scoffed and Castiel slowly turned his head to Gabriel and gave him a scathing look. Gabriel smiled innocently and pet his messy, bed-head looking black hair.

"I do not know what to say." Castiel finally said and Gabriel rolled his eyes.

"How about you say hello back?" The response was said sarcastically but Castiel nodded and typed back a simple hello. He placed the phone down on the counter and stared at it.

"A watched pot never boils." Gabriel teased and started to drain the coffee pots.

Gabriel watched in mild amusement as Castiel literally jumped when he heard his phone go off and grabbed it greedily and stared at the phone screen.

"Just ask him on a date. He clearly likes you." Gabriel said in a sing-song voice. Castiel chose to ignore him.

The text read "when do I get to see you again?" Castiel pondered the thought. He didn't know how to respond. He never really talked to someone with romantic intent. "I suppose whenever you feel the need to seek my presence" he responded after a while.

It felt nice to talk. He thought for a while and decided it could be good for him.

* * *

Be gentle. It's my first story.


	2. Chapter 2

Howdy guys. I just wanted to reiterate that this story starts out happy. No way would someone date someone abusive just cause. So if you're confused as to why it's lighthearted and funny, it's because we haven't gotten to the meat of the story yet. Like I said about the frog in chapter one.

I'd like to give a special thank you for the two reviewers for chapter one. Thank you for taking the time to review. It really does make me happy. So thank you Diana Campos (Even though I have no clue what you said.) and Silenthowler.

* * *

Chapter two:

**What are you wearing? ;)**

Castiel stared at his phone screen. He knew that the ending punctuation marks were supposed to resemble a face that was winking. He asked Gabriel about it before and he laughed loudly and informed him of his ignorance. So now each time he had the pleasure of being sent that particular face, it didn't make him feel like he was being hit on. It just brought back memories of his incompetence.

Even so, Dean texting him made him very happy. He didn't know why Dean bothered to ask him what he was wearing being how only moments earlier Castiel had informed him he was working.

**Black pants, a white polo, and a tan apron and hat.**

Castiel seemed content with his response.

**You were supposed to say something sexy.**

Castiel raised a eyebrow. He never thought of anyone thinking he was sexy or anything that came out of his mouth to be sexy.

**So I was supposed to lie?**

He responded and began grinding more coffee. Usually he didn't text at work so much but then again, usually he didn't have anyone to talk to... Well besides Gabriel, who had an obsession with texting him pickles in provocative situations. Gabriel's imagination was endless, by the way.

**Just for the fun of it, yes. For example: I'm wearing nothing... ;)**

Castiel's expression just grew more confused.

**I thought you disclosed earlier that you were at the garage today. Why would you want to be naked while fixing cars?**

Castiel slipped his phone into his apron pocket as customers came into the shop. Gabriel was in the back washing dishes and singing rather loudly but Castiel learned to ignore it so wasn't bothered even though the customers giggled at the off-tune song.

"Can I have some espresso?" The female asked politely. Castiel gave a curt nod and walked over to the espresso machine and pressed the button down and espresso was immediately produced from the stem. He placed a lid on it and put it on the counter. As he was ringing in the order she looked at the cup, unimpressed.

"Why is there barely anything in here?" She asked and he looked up from his screen.

"You asked for a shot of espresso." He said simply and she scoffed.

"No. I didn't ask for a _shot._ I asked for _espresso_. She snapped and he slowly let his hand fall down from the screen and gave her a very lost look.

"You want... a full cup... of espresso." He tried to piece together and she nodded her head and shoved the cup in his direction.

"This is barely anything! Why would I want this?" She asked and he stared down at the small cup.

"So you want... twelve ounces... of espresso." He said incredibly slowly and she grew more frustrated.

"Yes!" She huffed and he slowly grabbed the cup. He knew she had no idea what she was ordering.

"So I'm going to walk over to this machine..." He continued, taking the small cup with him and placing it down under the spout. "And I'm going to hit this button eleven more times. Is this correct?"

"Are you retarded?" She spat. "That's what I said I wanted!"

"Ma'am do you even know what you're ordering?" Castiel asked, for once looking exasperated. Before she could snap back, Gabriel walked from the back and saw the debacle and walked over.

"Sooo. Whats going on?" He asked and Castiel looked over at him.

"This woman ordered espresso. I provided her with it and she insisted it wasn't enough. She wants the cup full." He said calmly and Gabriel looked at the woman with a grin.

"You're going to drink twelve ounces of espresso? You realize that's enough caffeine for like twelve cups of coffee, right?" He informed her and she huffed.

"Clearly neither of you can do your job!" After her outburst, Castiel gave her the drink and hesitantly rung in the price. She was not thrilled.

"Eleven dollars?! That much for espresso!? That is ridiculous! I'm never coming here again!" She assured and stormed out. Even the other customers stared at her in amazement. Gabriel started laughing loudly.

"Oh my GOD she's going to shit her pants!" He cried and doubled over.

After the small rush of people and Gabriel mocking the woman several times, Castiel pulled out his phone and smiled seeing the notification symbol.

**Of course. That's the best way to fix cars. Slick yourself up in some transmission fluid, and oil.**

**Too far?**

**I was kidding. I'm in coveralls...**

**Cass?**

Castiel was slightly shocked to have received four texts from Dean and didn't know how to respond. Gabriel leaned on his shoulder and read from there and laughed in his ear.

"He's hysterical. I like him." He admitted and strolled off into the back to relax and probably tweet about the annoying customer from earlier. That's what he did every time there was an annoying customer. He would mock them on social media.

**Sorry. There was a rush of people that needed our assistance. But I'm sure you would look passable either way.**

Castiel didn't know what possessed him to say that but if Dean could joke around, so could he, right? He just wasn't sure if he was doing it correctly.

**PASSABLE?! You better expand your vocabulary. I deserve WAY more than passable. Sexy, hot, gorgeous, stunning, amazing. All those are fine substitutes. And you're lucky. I even gave you a word bank to choose from.**

Looking at the message made Castiel smile softly. Dean was funny, he decided. He liked Dean.

**I apologize severely for hurting your delicate sensibilities.**

The ice machine kicked on and startled Castiel into actually paying attention to do work. And so he did. He cleaned out the milk cooler and was in the process of refilling the three coffee grinders when he heard the door opening. When he turned he saw Dean standing there, grease spots flecked on his face and dirt smudges all over his clothes. His face was sweaty and his hair was all over god's creation. For some reason, that was the first time Castiel noticed how truly good Dean looked. He almost felt offended that a human being could pull off being _dirty._

"Dean." Castiel announced and turned so his whole body was facing the sweaty (and oddly smelling) man. "What are you doing here?"

"I just got out of work and I got your text and I felt that I should tell you that you did hurt my delicate sensibilities." He said, surprisingly straight faced. Castiel's features softened and Dean knew he had him. "And I believe you need to come with me to dinner tonight to make up for the trauma."

"You... you are kidding." Castiel deadpanned and Dean broke his posture and a grin spread out on his face.

"Yeah. I'm fucking with you... about the delicate sensibilities, bullshit. I actually do want to go to dinner with you tonight." Castiel gave Dean a look-over.

"Like that?" Dean gave him a look and went to deny it but decided that Castiel was just playing stupid at this point.

"Yes. Just. Like. This. I figured you can go in your apron and I could go smelling like Christine's bitch. It would be fun. Real romantic." He said sarcastically. Castiel didn't know what to respond to first.

"Christine?" He finally spit out and Dean furrowed his brow and looked down, crestfallen that his pun went over Castiel's head. He then looked back up.

"The movie about the killer... never mind. Anyway, I'm going to go home and take a shower and get dressed in different clothes. I hope you do the same and then I will pick you up at eight." He decided and the only thing Castiel could fathom to say was,

"I liked the Green Mile." Dean gave up at that point and walked over to the counter and leaned against it. Castiel took a sharp inhale in. Not because Dean was so close but he now had to clean the counter top and probably the other side too.

"Do you want to go or not?" Dean asked softly and Castiel's eyes looked up to be met with Dean's. His facial structure seemed sincere enough. Castiel had a few minutes of looking confused before answering Dean's question.

"I would like to wear my tan coat, if you don't mind." Dean laughed and squinted his eyes at the same time.

"That is the weirdest yes I've ever gotten." After a couple minutes of just looking at each other, Dean stood up properly. "You will look good in whatever you want to wear. I will pick you up at eight."

"I will be there... waiting for you... at eight then. I guess." Castiel agreed and Dean chuckled.

"In your coat reading Green Mile, right?" Castiel nodded. He supposed he was going to have to look through his bookcase when he got home. Dean seemed to have his demands laid out for him and he didn't want to disappoint. Especially on a first date. His first date. Ever.

"You can count on it." Castiel said with a strange sense of determination. Dean waved and left. It didn't take long for Gabriel to say something from the doorway to the back.

"Dude what the hell is wrong with you?" He asked and Castiel turned to give him a look of confusion. "What kind of shitty flirting was that? You couldn't even coerce your left hand to get in bed with you with that. You have GOT to learn people skills instead of being this weirdly awkward tall scrawny kid spewing nonsense." Castiel held Gabriel's gaze for quite some time, squinting.

"My left hand is attached to my body. How would it not be in bed at the same time as me?" Gabriel just walked in the back looking baffled. He could not handle Castiel. He simply just could not.

#$#)(

Castiel was home after his long twelve hour shift at the cafe. He didn't mind working so long. He was rarely tired. And when he wasn't working, he was at home by himself. He didn't have many friends. He had Gabriel. Occasionally one of his siblings would give him a call. Sometimes he would avoid the calls though. Castiel wasn't a people-person.

The only thing that could occupy his time without allowing any amount of loneliness into his mind was when he was reading books. Which he stopped by his favorite bookstore on the way home to pick up some new reading material.

After placing his books very precisely on his end table next to his reading chair, he walked into his tiny bathroom and started the shower. His bathroom could probably only fit three people if they somehow merged a couple limbs together. His shower was just a stall. He had excellent leg strength because the shower head was down so low in the shower, he had to crouch down to wash his hair, otherwise it was just spraying water on his chest.

He didn't mind his tiny bathroom. It was always cleaned. Castiel's apartment was always in immaculate condition. He had a slight case of OCD. The OCD where If someone were to switch the position of the salt and pepper on his tiny kitchen table, he would notice.

After showering (and getting his leg work in for the day) Castiel walked over to the mirror and noticed the stubble that was growing. He hadn't shaved in a few days, nothing but pure laziness. However, once he glanced at the clock and the bright red numbers read 7:48, he didn't care so much. He wanted to get dressed.

This was a moment that Castiel felt happy that he didn't have a wide variety of clothes. He wouldn't know what to wear on a date otherwise.

He pulled out dark brown pants and a white button up shirt and a black tie. He gave himself an awkward mirror-smile and it vanished as quickly as it came. The voice in Castiel's mind couldn't help but point out how creepy he looked when he smiled. Suddenly he was extremely self conscious. It was now 7:58 and he told Dean he would go downstairs and meet him outside the apartment complex rather than have Dean waste his time with going up all of the stairs.

He stood outside, book tucked under his arm and watched cars drive by. The night was dark, and cold. He found himself glad to wear his favorite tan coat.

A black car pulled up to the curb and Dean hopped out of the driver's side, car still running. He jogged over to the other side and opened the passenger door for Castiel who stared at him in amazement. He slowly got into the car like he'd never seen one before and Dean laughed and closed it and got in on the other side.

"Damn, Cass. You weren't kidding about a tan coat. That outfit... It's so... you." Dean said and Castiel noticed the dark jeans and the dark blue button up shirt he was wearing rolled up to his elbows.

"I apologize for not bringing Green Mile like you intended me to. I did bring a formidable substitute." Castiel pulled out Christine from under his arm. Dean looked at him for a while and then started to laugh quite loudly mumbling "oh Cass" inbetween laughter.

* * *

As a question I was just wondering who you think is going to be the abuser. (Just so you know neither of them will be completely innocent. Both will be held accountable for bad actions.)

And if you hear a song that's sad please send it my way. I get my ideas from break up songs and such. Thank you for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

Hello guys. I just wanted to say I've written up to chapter ten already. I'm just not posting quicker because I don't really know if a lot of people are enjoying it. So, hit me up and let me know.

And thank you to my only reviewer SilentHowler, again. Thank you for reviewing and you're the reason I posted this chapter so quick. :)

* * *

Chapter three

"So what kind of music do you like?" Dean asked as he turned on the radio, blasting AC/DC.

"I like a lot of music. I don't really have a preference. Although I have a strong disdain for rap." He admitted and Dean noticed how stiff he was. Castiel really did need to learn to relax.

"I approve." Dean replied and continued looking at Castiel out of the corner of his eye. "Are you okay?"

"I am fine, why ask?" Castiel glanced over at Dean. Dean shrugged.

"You just seem all tense and uptight." Castiel frowned at the statement and slouched down so he still looked stiff but with really bad posture.

"Does this make you feel better?" He asked and Dean smiled at him and shook his head.

"You are a weird one, Cass." Castiel looked slightly hurt by the statement and looked down at the car floor. Dean noticed the demeanor and grabbed Castiel's knee and Castiel looked up in confusion. "Hey that's not a bad thing. Weird is good."

The rest of the car ride was relatively quiet. Dean would ask a question and get a strange answer in response. And then suddenly Castiel did something no one ever did to him on a date. He started reading. That's right. Castiel pulled out Christine and started reading the book as they drove around in the car. The action didn't bother him though. He knew it should've annoyed him but he looked at how content Castiel was and smiled. He didn't know why he liked how strange Castiel was, but he did and he didn't want him to change.

"Hey bookworm, we're here." Dean said finally and Castiel was on high alert briefly before settling down. The sudden noise startling him. He turned to Dean and nodded. "Come on you." Dean said as he pushed himself out of the car. Castiel began opening his own door and Dean jogged over to it and pulled it out all the way and let Castiel out of the car. He smiled at him and closed the door then offered his arm.

"Are you ready?" Castiel slowly took Dean's arm and Dean couldn't pinpoint his favorite part about the hues in Castiel's eyes.

Castiel scanned the area and noticed a small, well maintained building. It really didn't have a sign anywhere so it wouldn't strike him as a place to eat.

"Where are we?" He asked and Dean grinned.

"Well you see, my good friend Ellen owns a bar. Her daughter, Jo, happens to own a small place herself. They have _really_ good pie." With that, Castiel followed Dean to the building and when he got inside he realized it WAS indeed a place to go eat. They just need better advertising.

"Jo!" Dean called and shortly after a very pretty blond girl walked out from the back and gave him a huge smile.

"Dean! Wow can't believe you're here. And look, you brought me a customer." She added after noticing Castiel. Dean smiled proudly.

"You are looking at my date." He announced and put his arm around Castiel who stood very stiffly under the weight. He struggled, but managed to half smile, feeling really awkward.

Jo giggled and nodded at the display.

"Yes, you two look like a very happy couple." She acknowledge and Dean and Castiel spoke at the same time.

"Thank you, I know!"

"Oh no, we aren't a couple..." Dean then looked at Castiel.

"Am I not taking you out on a date as we speak?" He asked and Castiel shifted uncomfortably.

"Yes, well... I had no idea it came with the title of a couple." He admitted and Dean frowned.

"You don't like me, Cass?" He gave a very good puppy-face. Castiel wasn't phased in the slightest though.

"This is our first date, Dean." He retorted and Dean grinned and brought him closer, looking at Jo.

"See that, Jo? He said it. We're on a _date_." Castiel stared at him without an expression and Dean ignored him and led him to a table.

($*#)^

"Did you have a good time?" Dean asked once they pulled to the curb near Castiel's apartment. Castiel nodded.

"I had a satisfactory date." He looked down, feeling slightly flushed. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. When do I get to kidnap you again?" Dean asked and Castiel looked up at him and gawked. He didn't realize that Dean would want to see him again. He really didn't know how to talk to people so the whole date was pretty quiet. But if Dean decided that he liked Castiel enough to go on another date, then who was he to stop him?

"Um... I am always free. I don't have friends." Castiel said seriously and Dean flashed him a smile.

"That sounds so charming when you say it like that." He teased and grabbed Castiel's knee again. "Even though you're a strange person to be around, I really do like being around you. Thank you for coming with me and I will text you soon." Castiel nodded slowly.

"Yes. Text me when you get home." He said and then felt like a stalker. "So I know you didn't flip your car and die." He added and Dean just laughed.

"You sure know how to make a guy feel like a million bucks. I can't wait to see you." He rubbed Castiel's knuckles, debating if he wanted to kiss him. But he chose not to and watched as Castiel slowly got out of the car and walk to the door.

Dean was too immersed in watching Castiel walk away, he didn't notice until he was out of sight that Castiel had left Christine on the floor of the car. He grabbed the book and ran to the door and opened it. He was thankful Castiel hadn't gotten too far because he never asked which apartment was his. He jogged over and called out his name and Castiel turned around.

"You left your book." He held out the book and Castiel took it with a small smile.

"Thank you. I appreciate your concerns with not allowing me to part without it." Dean nodded and his eyes lingered on Castiel for a while. "Are you well?"

"Yeah Cass. I'm fine... It's just... Can I kiss you?" He blurred out and Castiel looked more embarrassed than Dean did.

"You... want to kiss... _me_?" He seemed shocked and Dean raised an eyebrow.

"I took you on a date and this confuses you?" That made the gears in Castiel's mind reel. He looked back up and nodded his head.

"I find kissing you to be acceptable." He decided and Dean stared at him with a soft smile.

"You're such a fucking weirdo, Cass." He laughed as he leaned in and kissed Castiel chastely on the lips. Castiel tensed and at the same time eased into the kiss. It wasn't long. But long enough to make his heart race. Dean pulled away and looked at Castiel longingly before stroking his cheek softly with his thumb. "I'll catch you soon, huh?"

"Of course." Castiel said quickly. "I will be awaiting it."

"I hope so." Dean scanned over Castiel's body and gave him a final grin. "Have a good night, Cass."

It was Castiel's turn to watch Dean leave and he stood there in the hallway for a while just trying to register what had happened. All he knew was his stomach was fuzzy and so did his head. He felt like he ran a mile with what his heart was doing to him but even passed all the discomfort, for the first time in a long time Castiel didn't feel so alone anymore. He felt like someone wanted to be in his life. And that made him happy. He couldn't remember the last time he could truly say he was happy.

After about four minutes of standing there like he was brain dead, Castiel walked back up to his apartment and placed the book on the table next to his reading chair. He then sat down on his couch and leaned forward with his head in his hands and tried to make sense of how his body was reacting.

It didn't take very long for him to get a text message from Dean letting him know he was home safely. Castiel appreciated Dean listening to him and letting him know.

**So how was the kiss? **

Castiel noticed there was no winky face. He grew confused. Dean usually used those things to insinuate he was flirting. Did this mean that the kiss was awful and he didn't want to kiss him anymore? With a sudden rise in anxiety, Castiel held the phone in shaking hands.

**My first.**

He admitted. And almost instantly his phone blew up with messages from Dean.

**Are you serious!?**

**I was your first kiss?**

**Dude aren't you like my age?**

**That's adorable.**

**Am I making you uncomfortable? Sorry. I got excited at the chance to corrupt young minds.**

After reading through the messages it became apparent to Castiel that he didn't know much about Dean. Like his age, namely.

**Yes. As I've said before, no one's really shown interest. And I'm 22. It occurs to me now that we've never exchanged ages.**

While waiting for his reply, Castiel switched his seat to his reading chair and began where he started off in the book Dean wanted him to get references to. Hopefully after this, he will also be able to make puns and have Dean laugh at them.

**Oh, Cassie, that's so... upsetting. In a way. But it's okay. I'm here to make up for all of it ;) And 22? You're such a youngling. I'm 25. Old man over here.**

Twenty-five? Was that a large age difference? Castiel pondered the thought for a while until he decided he didn't care to know if three years was significant.

**Only Gabriel calls me Cassie and I don't like when he does it either. What exactly are you making up to me, anyway? Twenty-five? You are old.**

After reading almost a page his phone's screen brightened up again and he smiled slightly and picked his phone back up.

**Oh man, so stick to Cass? I don't want the angel of thursday ruining my thursdays by pissing him off. I'm making up for lost time. You should've partied those years. And why the hell did you spell out 25? I'm old? You're old. You.. old.. old, you.**

Castiel literally couldn't believe what he was reading. What the hell school did he attend and why did they teach him that insults like those were acceptable? And how did he not know the number rule?

**Yes. Cass would be better than Cassie. I will smite you. I don't feel the need to party. I spelled it out because that's what you're supposed to do if a number is at the beginning of the sentence. It's correct sentence structure. Please refrain from using such heinous name-calling. I believe I might be forced to make fun of you.**

He hoped he wasn't being too harsh. He was new to this whole... Dean thing. But talking to Dean made him happy and that's all that mattered. His phone lit up again and Castiel didn't realize how excited he was to read the message from Dean until he realized it was from Gabriel. He sighed.

"When will he run out of ideas for places to put these pickles..?" He sighed to himself and decided not to reply. He then got the message he was anticipating on.

**Oh baby, I've been naughty. Please smite me in the name of the lord. You're using correct sentence structure in your text messages? You're such a nerd. You nerd. Nerdy nerd.**

His phone began blaring loudly and when he examined the screen to see he was getting a phone call from his brother. He wanted to ignore it but he couldn't ignore them forever.

"Hello?" Loud noises from the other side. So loud Castiel pulled the phone away from his ear. "Are you even there?" More loud noises. Castiel sighed and hung up the phone. The one time he actually answered to speak to his brother, his brother butt-dialed him. Typical.

**I would rather be a nerd than whatever you are. **

That may have sounded harsh over text but it was thought of with lighthearted intentions.

**Ouch. You're mean when provoked. Well I have to get going to bed. I'll text you tomorrow. Don't let the bed bugs bite.**

He didn't respond to that message. Mainly because now he was paranoid that he had bugs in his bed. So he went to his room to inspect it. He didn't see any bugs. He didn't think he'd have them. He washed his sheets on a very regular basis. But what does he know? Dean seemed to have good intentions on keeping Castiel safe. He didn't want to just brush that aside. So for a half an hour Castiel looked for anything moving on his bed. And when he didn't find anything, he fell asleep, unbitten.

* * *

Like I said, review if you like it. Give me feedback. I'll post quicker, I promise.


	4. Chapter 4

Looks like the boys are just getting closer and closer, huh?

Yeah, I wanted to wait longer to post this chapter because I was waiting for more reviews but SilentHowler keeps reviewing for each chapter and it wouldn't be fair. :)

* * *

Chapter four:

"So Castiel, how was the date last night. Anything... happen?" Gabriel asked with an obnoxious wink.

"It went well. Dean wants to go out again. I'm thinking of planning something this time." Castiel admitted as he filled the pastry case with scones.

"Oh really? What are you thinking?" Gabriel asked with curiosity and Castiel shrugged.

"I've never planned an outing for me and and anyone else so I honestly have no clue. But I'm going to think of something." Castiel promised to himself that he would take Dean on a great date since Dean was so good to him. The more he thought of Dean, the happier he became. Even if it didn't show on his face, Castiel was elated.

**Hey there stranger. How did you sleep?**

Getting a text from Dean was quite literally the highlight of his day. He was always excited when Dean messaged him. It told him Dean was thinking about him.

**I slept fine. I searched for those bed bugs but as it turns out I am safe.**

**You know, it wouldn't surprise me if you actually did look for them. But I'm glad you slept good. **

**I slept ****_well_****. Superman does good.**

**I'm going to ignore you for a while until you sit down and think about what you did.**

Castiel frowned. Did he actually say something offensive? Maybe Dean didn't like being corrected? But why would someone not want to know the proper way to say things. Castiel wouldn't like to seem like a fool. He supposed not everyone else was like him though.

**I am sorry if I offended you.**

Castiel continued setting up the shop so they could open. Gabriel was in the back doing god knows what. Castiel didn't get a response message from Dean. He began to worry.

After everything was set up, Gabriel unlocked the door and switched the sign to opened and turned on the lights. It was Castiel's least favorite time. He liked the dark. It was comforting.

"So what are your plans for tonight?" Gabriel asked offhandedly.

"Um.. I don't believe anything. I will probably go home and read." He decided and Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Is something wrong with reading?"

"No. Nothing is wrong with reading. There's something wrong with _you_ though." Gabriel teased with a smile. Castiel only stared at him emotionlessly. "You're no fun. What's eating you?"

"I think I have offended Dean. He he has not responded to me." Castiel admitted with a sigh.

"I'm sure you're big hunky man is fine. You're going to have to do a lot to offend him." Gabriel promised and Castiel believed him. He was just upset because Dean was taking so long to reply. "Seriously, he's probably just busy at work or something."

"But he doesn't start work until eight. It's six-thirty five." Castiel replied with a frown. Gabriel patted him on the back.

"You're smitten and it's adorable." Gabriel stood up properly and made himself some obnoxiously sweet drink as Castiel stared in a daze at his phone.

For a while the shop was so busy that Castiel didn't have time to dwell on the fact that he hadn't heard from Dean. Mornings were always busy. A lot of people came to the shop to get breakfast and some coffee on their way to work.

As Castiel was cutting a bagel for a customer, he heard a familiar voice call out his name. Castiel jerked his attention to behind him and didn't even notice he sliced his palm until he raised his arm to wave at Dean and saw Dean's smile disappear from his face.

Since Castiel was wearing gloves at the time, the blood pooled into the glove making it look much worse than it actually was. Although, it was a pretty bad cut.

"Oh my god, Castiel!" Gabriel pushed him away from the counter. "You're bleeding on this poor guy's bagel. That's not the topping he wanted."

"Oh..." Castiel looked down at his hand. Now that he was paying attention to it, it hurt a lot more. "That hurts."

"What the hell are you doing!?" Dean was at the counter, he didn't care that he cut the line. Castiel walked over to it and Dean grabbed his hand. The other customers retracted in disgust as Gabriel sanitized the area and worked on making the guy a new bagel.

"I got distracted I suppose..." Castiel admitted, looking annoyed at himself. Dean saw how deep the cut was and pulled out a rag from his pocket.

"This is going to need stitches." He wrapped up Castiel's hand and instructed him to hold his arm above his head to stop it from bleeding so much.

"Go on. Get him fixed up. Chuck is due in any minute." Gabriel insisted and Dean guided Castiel out of the cafe.

"I wanted to talk to you about the possibility of going on another date. This time I wanted to pick the place we went." Dean stared at him with a small smile.

"You're bleeding everywhere and you're talking about dates? Don't worry Cass. You picked our next date. A hospital. Now come on."

As embarrassed as Castiel was to make such an unfortunate mistake in front of Dean, he was happy that Dean cared enough about him to take him to the hospital. Even though he made him hold his arm above his head the whole time. He looked ridiculous and his arm was starting to burn and fall asleep all at once.

"Did you know that a hippo can open his mouth big enough to fit someone who is four feet tall?" Castiel decided to blur out to avoid any awkward atmosphere. It worked. Dean chuckled.

"Yeah? Is that so? Anything else you want to add there, buddy?" Castiel took this as a serious inquiry and thought for a couple seconds before responding.

"Most lipstick contains fish scales." Castiel offered and Dean shook his head.

"Oh man, I need to slow down on the lipstick. That is just gross." Castiel felt glad that he was able to make Dean smile, despite needing to get stitches. "We're here, Cass. Now get your ass out of the car and let's go."

Castiel followed Dean to the ER with his hand comically held above his head. He couldn't even bleed like a normal person.

"My buddy here decided it was a good time to cut his hand open. He needs stitches. Think you can help us out?" Dean asked the nurse at the counter who stared over at Castiel.

"I don't believe the thought in my mind was ever to cut my hand open, thank you. You distracted me while I was using a freshly sharpened knife." Castiel countered and Dean smirked.

"Was I so good looking you got distracted, Cass?" He teased and Castiel looked at him very seriously.

"I was just very excited to hear you. I thought you were mad at me." He said honestly and Dean was confused at that statement but didn't have time to ask before the nurse started handing him paperwork to fill out.

"Whoa whoa whoa, can't he get some help before all this? Do you want him to bleed all over the papers?" Castiel reached for the papers, arm still in the air. Only now he didn't have another hand putting pressure on it so blood was just trickling down his arm making his shirt red. "No no. You make sure you don't infect the hospital with your blood. I'll fill this out just tell me what to write."

"Coming from someone who can't use proper sentence structure..." Castiel said pointedly and Dean glowered.

"Or you can write it with your blood, fine with me..." Castiel followed Dean to some chairs and gave him information he wouldn't give anyone else. By the end of this "date" Dean would know more about his medical history than anyone else.

"You never told me diabetes ran in your family." Dean noted and Castiel raised an eyebrow.

"Why would I disclose that information with you on our first date?" He asked and Dean smiled.

"Well at least you disclosed it on our second. See? We're practically dating." Castiel's heart did this weird jumping like feeling and for a second he was breathless at Dean's comment. He was again reminded that there was someone in the world who wanted to be with him. That was the greatest feeling he could ever ask for. "You have asthma too?"

"And anxiety." Castiel nodded and Dean just shook his head and laughed.

"Cass, you're doing SUCH a good job of turning me on right now. Please just add to the mix that you have ED. I don't think I could be more hot and bothered." Castiel could tell Dean was teasing him but he tensed up regardless. ED? Erectile Dysfunction? Castiel honestly couldn't say if he knew he had ED. He never looked into it. "...Do you?"

"I can honestly tell you, I have no idea." Well that was a better answer than yes. "But with my anxiety pills I could say that it is a possibility.

"..." Dean just stared at Castiel who looked back innocently. "Cass, you are so lucky I like you despite your weirdness."

"You said weird was good." Castiel reminded and Dean kissed Castiel's forehead.

"Weird is very good. Never boring."

(_%)$*#)

"And please, Mr. Novak. Don't cut open your hand again." The doctor scolded playfully.

"And by that he means control your excitement to see me. I know I'm hot, but I didn't know I caused injuries." Dean chided with a devilish grin.

"... I will have you know, I am no longer considering this our second date." Castiel said it with so much conviction that he thought he was going to hurt Dean's feelings by saying that a hospital trip that made both of them miss work wasn't a date, that Dean just started laughing.

"Okay Cas. I'm upset by your decision. I for one, found the smell of rubbing alcohol and sick people to be very romantic." Dean ran his fingers through Castiel's hair. "How about we go out to wherever you want to go and call it our second date? We're both out of work now. Might as well.." Castiel nodded and Dean guided him out of the hospital.

When they were in the car, Castiel couldn't help but feel bad about what he said earlier. He thought about how mean it could've sounded.

"Dean, I know since it upset you so badly, I'm willing to reevaluate my previous statement. You can consider the hospital trip as our second date. I will allow it." Castiel said, sounding proud of himself. Dean just turned to him and couldn't believe what he was hearing. He knew Castiel was dense. But this was just amazing. It was at that moment that Dean knew he wanted to be with Castiel for a long time. He couldn't remember the last time he laughed that hard.

(%*$)(#

"This is it?" Dean deadpanned. Castiel nodded with a small smile. "You're taking me to a bookstore for our second-"

"-third-"

"-third date?" Castiel turned to Dean with a furrowed brow. He seemed disappointed.

"Do you not like it?" Dean suddenly realized that Castiel clearly put thought into this and was proud of himself for thinking of a date location. So despite Dean not caring for books, he put on a smile and said,

"No Cass. This is great." Despite the fact that he was lying, he felt good about it because he could feel Castiel's excitement now.

"Come on." Castiel hurried out of the car and Dean realized how ridiculous he looked. He was STILL in his full uniform. Hat and apron and all. And his shirt was covered in blood on his left side from cutting his hand.

"Wait Cass, get your butt over here." Dean leaned in the back of his car and pulled up a black Metallica t-shirt. "Just change your shirt." Castiel looked down at his clothes and decided that would be a better idea. He had a hard time getting off his shirt since he had his left hand wrapped up and couldn't really move it. Then Dean started helping him undress in the middle of the parking lot. It must've been a sight to see.

"Thank you, Dean." Castiel said once his hat, apron and white polo were off. Dean noticed how little Castiel was at that point. He was real skinny and barely had any muscle defining features. But it made him all the more precious.

Dean didn't realize he was holding his breath when Castiel put on _his_ shirt until Castiel looked up, with his hat hair and his big blue eyes and asked if he looked okay. Dean wasn't a big guy but Castiel seemed to swim in his shirt. It was baggy on him.

"Perfect." Dean breathed out and cupped Castiel's cheek. "Just perfect." After a moment of shared silence, Dean broke the gaze and just smiled at Castiel. "Now let's get to your bookstore and read together, you nerd."

"They have a cafe too." Castiel added and Dean put his arm around Castiel's shoulders.

"Now you're trying to sell the place? After I already agreed to go?" Dean teased and Castiel looked over at Dean and slowly brought his uninjured hand to meet Dean's. Yeah, he could get used to this.

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Like I said, please review! I'm going to prolong the sex until you do ;q


	5. Chapter 5

I'm so happy. I got two new reviewers :)

Thank you chillywinterbreeze and Reading Is guys made my day!

* * *

Chapter five:

After the whole cutting his hand open incident, the owner, Chuck, told Castiel to take a few days off until his hand felt better. Castiel had of course felt bad because it was all his fault and Chuck was even paying for his hospital visit. He was thankful he had such a nice boss.

Due to Castiel's very limited time out, he had enough money saved up in the bank to stay out of work for even a couple months if he really wanted to. He just didn't want to. Plus, the cheapness of his very run down apartment helped him save up more money and so did his countless hours of overtime since Castiel normally took shifts that needed to be covered. He was the only one who never requested time off.

There was suddenly a loud knocking at the door and Castiel practically flew over to it to open it. Standing there, in all his glory, was Dean and a bag of stuff. Castiel stepped aside letting Dean walk into his apartment.

"Thank you." Castiel took the bag from Dean's hands and brought it over to his coffee table. Dean wondered around looking at Castiel's apartment.

"Damn Cass, I knew you were short but this is a dwarf's apartment." He called out from the bathroom and Castiel frowned. He didn't think he was _that_ short. He was taller than Gabriel and Chuck, at least. "You need to get a new apartment."

"This one is cheap and comfortable." Castiel countered and Dean scanned the room and noticed all the imperfections and nodded.

"Yeah. Looks... very comfortable." Castiel frowned at the thought of Dean making fun of his apartment. Did that mean he was making fun of him?

Dean sat down on the couch right next to Castiel and looked around confused. It took a while for Castiel to notice.

"What are you looking for?" He asked quietly and Dean turned to him looking lost.

"You don't have a TV?" He asked, incredulously.

"Dean, I read. A lot." He indicated the large bookshelf filled with hardcover novels. "I've read everything on that bookshelf."

"Oh my god." Dean looked in amazement. "You ARE a nerd." Castiel pursed his lips and Dean put his hands up defensively with a smile. "Kidding... not really. But the less mean version of calling you a nerd. Not to be offensive or anything."

"You're really helping your case, aren't you?" Castiel mumbled, turning away and Dean swatted at him and started pulling out contents from the bag he brought. "What did you get?"

"I got us dinner, honey." He answered and pulled out containers of Chinese food.

"You didn't have to do that..." Castiel was very touched at the gesture and a small smile tugged on his lips.

"Don't thank me yet. You have to eat it with chopsticks. I didn't grab plastic ware." Dean warned and Castiel tilted his head to the side.

"But Dean, we're in my apartment. I have forks-" Dean shushed Castiel and covered his mouth and kept shushing him. He then pet him and handed him the chopsticks.

"We _only_ have chopsticks." He reiterated and Castiel sighed softly and looked down at his dish that had rice in it.

"I've never used chopsticks..." He admitted quietly and Dean practically giggled and pulled out chopsticks with a rubber band and an extra piece of wood.

"Don't worry. I got us kiddy chopsticks. They're chopsticks for unfunctioning people like us."

"I believe the word you're looking for is nonfunctional."

"_I believe the word you're looking for is nonfunctional._" Dean mocked and sent a playful glare at Castiel. Castiel laughed, not a real laugh, but a small smile and he blew more air out of his nose than usual.

*)()%$)

"I believe I've been _very _patient with you, Cass." Dean said out of nowhere and Castiel looked over at him. They had been laying on the couch, kind of cuddling but really awkwardly because Castiel didn't know how to cuddle like a normal person.

"What do you mean?"

"We've been on _four _dates. And one included you telling me about your medical history. And one included me reading. I read a book for you." Castiel was bemused.

"What are you getting at?" He asked slowly. Dean pinched Castiel's chin and stared at him for a while.

"You're going to have to give into me eventually..." He whispered and Castiel shivered but was more lost than ever.

"Give into you how?" Dean leaned in painfully slowly. They gazed into each other's half-lidded eyes. Castiel could feel Dean's breath on his face and he got that warm fuzzy feeling. The closer Dean got to his face, the more chills he got, his arms covered in goosebumps. Castiel closed his eyes and for the first time, moved in the rest of the way to kiss Dean. Even though they had kissed before there was something different about this one. Castiel's stomach tightened with excitement and he shivered so much he arched his back, pressing himself closer to Dean. Dean broke the kiss a couple seconds later, they were both a bit shaky, as most people are after a kiss from someone they like. Dean pressed his forehead to Castiel's.

"By being _mine_." His voice was a low growl and Castiel felt a whimper leave his lips and he nodded at Dean, staring at him wide-eyed.

"I'm yours." He agreed and Dean leaned down for another kiss.

They both got more aggressive with their kissing. Castiel was following Dean's lead, having never made out with anyone before. The kiss made him feel like he could float away and be happy forever. Like there was nothing wrong with anything in the world. Like no moment before this moment mattered. Just them, locking lips on the couch Castiel had since moving out of his brother's house so many years ago. No memories on this couch mattered except the one that they were making.

Dean had his hand tightly holding the back of Castiel's neck, propping him up more since his kisses kept forcing his head further down in the couch. Castiel's arms were on Dean's neck pulling him closer. The noises that escaped their lips should be noted as completely sinful.

Dean pulled away again, trying to calm himself down. And with a simpering grin, he leaned in and whispered into Castiel's ear.

"No Cass. You don't have ED."

)(*)**#

A few days had came and gone and Castiel was growing more and more obsessed with his boyfriend, Dean. He let Dean talk all the time because he wanted to know _everything_ there was about him. He wanted to know his favorite color, animal, plant, fruit, vegetable, how many strands of hair he had on his body. If it had to do with Dean, Castiel was eager to learn.

Everything Dean did was special to him. Dean could bring him a cup of coffee on his way over and Castiel would cherish it (internally) like it was a gift from god. He could not stop thinking about Dean. That was his every other thought. He couldn't concentrate on reading. He was too anxious about when Dean would be over or when Dean would pick him up. He would look at his phone constantly and he now adapted to having restless leg syndrome.

He finally got his much anticipated call from Dean and his heart jumped and he forgot how to breathe properly. That aside, he answered anyway.

"Hey Cass! How is my little gimpy doing on his day off?"

"I'm trying to read."

"Of course you are." Dean sounded amused. "Anyway, I wanted to tell you I can't make it over right after work. My brother is coming up and I want him to get situated in my apartment first." Castiel didn't know how he felt about that. All he knew was his stomach was bubbling and his heart felt like it was on fire. But he breathed out and struggled to find words anyway.

"That's fine. I was going to try to finish this book anyway." Castiel said, if he actually had emotion in his voice, he knew it would sound disappointed.

"There's my little nerd. Sammy is just going to love you when he meets you."

"I'm going to meet your brother?" Castiel inquired. He had no idea they were that serious but it felt nice anyway.

"Of course. If you want to, that is. Just not tonight. He's been in the car for like ten hours and he wants to go to bed." Castiel nodded even though they were on the phone and Dean couldn't hear him. "I can't hear you nod, Cass."

"Oh sorry. I nodded." Castiel informed him formally and Dean shook his head on the other line. "I can't hear you shake your head." Castiel retorted.

"Oh sorry. I shook my head. Excessively."

"So when do I see you again?" Castiel asked, hoping he didn't sound too clingy.

"Maybe tonight, probably tomorrow. I'll let you know once Sammy gets in. I'm still at work so I won't know until I leave at five."

"Okay. Well.. Just let me know. I probably won't move."

"You're in you reading chair again?"

"Yes."

"I knew it. Anyway, I'll let you go. Finish your book. I have to finish doing a car inspection. I just wanted to give you a heads up."

"Thank you. I will see you when I see you." Dean hung up the phone and Castiel stared down at his phone. "Why didn't he say goodbye though?"

*)$*(^%(*

To say he was bored was an understatement. Castiel didn't realize how used to Dean being around he was until Dean wasn't there. Couldn't Dean bring Sam to Castiel's apartment so he didn't have to be so alone?

Castiel's phone vibrated and his excitement got the best of him. He wasn't even disappointed to find that it was from Gabriel with a picture of a pickle in a banana hammock. At least it was interaction.

That's when Castiel did something he never thought he'd do. He picked up the phone and called his older brother.

"Hello?" The phone was answered on the third ring.

"Hey... Are you busy?" Castiel asked, surprising himself at his tone. He sounded needy.

"Are you dying? Are you being held hostage? What's up?" Castiel was debating on if calling Lucifer was a good idea.

"No. No. Nothing. I just needed someone to interact with." Castiel replied honestly.

"Yeah, I'll be over no problem. But please tell me you got a TV now. Because I'm not doing this whole book club bullshit on my day off." Castiel thought for a moment.

"No I don't have a TV. Perhaps you can help me get one?" He again, shocked himself. Why did he want a TV? Did he think that by getting a TV Dean would come over more frequently? Well.. maybe.

"I am coming over ASAP with a thermometer and a therapist." Lucifer then hung up and Castiel looked at the phone again, sadly.

"No one says goodbye..."

*)&(%*

"Yes. That's perfect. Looks amazing." Lucifer said proudly after they put the TV up. They had to clear a shelf of books to place the TV somewhere but Castiel just stacked the books next to his other bookshelf. He silently reminded himself to get another bookshelf because he knew he was going to need it. "It really spices the place up." Lucifer ran his fingers down the flatscreen TV. It was 27" flatscreen smart TV. "Now lets hook it up to wifi."

"Wifi?"

"You don't have wifi? Why the hell did you get the smart tv if you don't have wifi?"

"I believe you picked out the tv."

"Okay who's your cable provider?"

"I don't have cable. I just got the TV."

"...Do you have a DVD/bluray player?"

"No. I just got a TV." Lucifer stared at Castiel in awe.

"...Let me get this straight. You bought a TV. With NO cable. NO DVD/bluray player. And NO wifi?" Castiel nodded slowly. "What the hell are you going to do with it? Make it a backdrop for puppet shows?"

"...I realize my mistake." Lucifer huffed and rolled his eyes and picked up his phone. "What are you doing?"

"Getting you some damn cable and internet."

* * *

Like I said, I have more chapters written. The more reviewers, the faster I put them up! ;)


	6. Chapter 6

Thank you my lovelies! Guest (whomever you are), Reading Is Smexy, and SilentHowler (don't worry, dear. I love to hear from you.)

As you can see, Castiel is getting more and more... clingy.

* * *

Chapter six:

After Lucifer left, Castiel called Dean immediately. He was very excited to share the news. And after Lucifer set up a date for the cable company to come over, they went back out to get Castiel a system so he could watch movies. Since before his TV has the impressive capability to turn on and that's it.

"Cass!" Came the voice on the other line. Castiel perked up even more.

"Dean. I obtained a television set."

"Really? Wow. I can't believe you of all people finally got with the new age of life. Congratulations on upgrading from your cave." Dean chuckled. "So you start watching anything yet?"

"Oh, no. I don't have cable."

"You have a DVD player?"

"Yes I just bought it."

"Oh awesome. So what movies do you have?" This made Castiel panic. Clearly he didn't understand how this whole TV thing worked.

"I... don't have any movies." Castiel admitted quietly and Dean stayed silent.

"So let me get this straight. You got a TV and a DVD player but you don't have cable or DVD's?" Castiel frowned.

"...I have realized my mistake."

*)^%(

"I can't believe you're back already, buddy! I missed you!" Castiel gave a small smile to the very hyper Gabriel. "Even though you have a shift that even a minor would be bored of. Two WHOLE hours. Wow. You're really reeling in the big bucks, aren't you?"

"Chuck thought it was unwise for me to come back to work full time until he feels my hand is better." Castiel stared at his covered hand. "It is not better yet."

"So I'm going to guess that I have to do the freezer count?" Castiel shook his head.

"No. I'm right handed. I can do the orders. It's probably the only thing I'm useful for. I can't grab things very well. It hurts my hand."

"Well sorry about that, buddy. You bring a jacket?"

"No. I didn't realize it was Wednesday." Gabriel shook his head and handed Castiel the clipboard and a pen.

"Well aren't you just a silly duckling. Sorry, I don't have mine either. But I bet you'll have fun in there." Castiel sighed and walked into the back and opened the freezer and shivered instantly. He hated being cold but it was his own fault for not bringing a jacket. He figured he didn't need one since he was working for two hours. He wouldn't be stuck until it was dark and cold outside.

By the time Castiel finished the list, his lips were paler than usual and his hands and nose were bright red.

He walked to the front shivering, wanting to be next to the ovens and noticed that Dean was there having a conversation with Gabriel. He had a cup of coffee in his hands and Castiel was upset. He wanted to make Dean's coffee. Why didn't Gabriel come get him? Why didn't Dean tell him he would be coming over so he wasn't in a freezer?

"Cas. Hey." Dean smiled over at Castiel and the smile faded into concern when he saw Castiel was violently shaking. "Are you okay?" He put his coffee down on the counter and walked over to him.

"He was just in the freezer." Gabriel notified Dean who took off his jacket and draped it on Castiel's shoulders and pulled him in for a hug, trying to stop the shivering. Suddenly Castiel's annoyance faded away and all that mattered was he had the scent of Dean overwhelming his senses.

"Why are you here?" Castiel asked through chattering teeth.

"Because it's your first day back. I wanted to see if you were doing okay with your hand there. Are you?"

"I'm fine. But I do appreciate your concern greatly." Dean smiled and hugged Castiel again.

"You can keep the jacket. For now. Do you think you can meet me at the shop after I get out of work? You can meet Sammy..." Dean offered and Castiel sighed and Dean pulled away. "What's wrong?"

"I don't own a car." He admitted sadly.

"You don't? Since when?"

"I've never owned a car."

"Cassie is afraid to drive!" Gabriel explained loudly from across the cafe. Castiel glared at him. Gabriel wasn't deterred. "Always has been. I pick him up and drive him home when the weather is bad." It made sense to Dean that Castiel didn't drive. It just seemed to fit his personality.

"I can teach you. If you want. Just not in my baby." He grinned and Castiel shrugged and looked away, feeling ashamed.

"I don't believe you can teach me. I don't like driving." Dean accepted it and ruffled Castiel's hair.

"It's fine, Cas. I will be your chauffeur. But my shop is probably like... seven blocks from here. I could always pick you up from home though."

"No. It's fine. I'll walk. I like walking." Castiel said quickly. He didn't want to feel rude.

"So I'll pick you up at six-thirty? Okay? Sounds like a plan. Good. Bye." Dean gave Castiel a tight hug and left in a hurry. Castiel stared at the door with a sigh.

*)^%(

It was 5:37 and Castiel was prepared to walk to Dean's shop. He figured if he got there early enough, he wouldn't have to make Dean drive extra. He was getting his things in order. Making sure he had his wallet and coat, as well as Dean's coat from earlier. Once he was satisfied, he left the building.

Castiel didn't get far when a black Impala pulled up to the sidewalk with Dean grinning while sitting behind the wheel.

"Dean." Castiel said in amazement and walked over to the door. "What are you doing here? You're an hour early."

"I know. I knew you'd try to walk to the shop so I told you the wrong time on purpose." Dean gave him a cheeky smile and Castiel glared at him before climbing into the car that he had gotten so used to. "Why aren't you wearing my jacket?"

"Because I needed to give it back to you." Castiel said simply and handed it to Dean. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Why are you giving me my clothes back?" Dean looked playfully annoyed and that's when Castiel unbuttoned his tan jacket to reveal he was sporting Dean's Metallica shirt and that shut him up with a smile. He grabbed Castiel's hand and gave it a squeeze.

"So what are our plans with your brother?" It is an innocent enough question. However, with the lack of emotion and the roughness of Castiel's voice, it sounded like they were on their way to murder him painfully. Dean ignored the thought since if he made a joke about it, Castiel wouldn't understand it anyway.

"We're meeting him at my friend Ellen's bar." Castiel nodded at the information.

"Why aren't we just going back to your apartment?" He asked, truly confused. Dean smirked at him.

"Why are you so excited to get to my apartment, Cas? You want me?" Dean winked and Castiel's facial structure stayed the same.

"Sometimes, yes." Castiel answered and Dean was at a loss. He liked the fact that Castiel admitted it. But he missed when Castiel got flustered. He'd just have to try harder.

"Well... good. Because you should... I'm wantable." Dean gestured himself and sat with poise.

"Yes." Castiel nodded and Dean pursed his lips at the lack of response. "Dean, why are we going to a bar anyway?"

"Because I like it there?"

"You drink?"

"Of course I do? I'm breathing. Therefore I drink." Castiel didn't know how he felt about that but ignored the gnawing feeling in his stomach. "Don't you?"

"I never really had the want to sit in my apartment and drink by myself.." Castiel said quietly while his eyes stayed looking at his feet. Dean knew that Castiel was lonely. He could see it even when they met. He just never realized that the poor bastard never even had a drink because he was too alone. Didn't people drink when they were alone? Why didn't Cass?

"Well now you have _two_ drinking buddies." Dean put extra emphasis by holding up two fingers.

"Thank you. It is what I always wanted." Dean rolled his eyes.

()^%()

"Come on Cass! You got this! Chug! Chug! Chug!" Castiel slammed his glass down but saw Dean's dismay and Sam jumped up and laughed with pride. "Cass! You were supposed to drink it _faster_ than Sam. Not slower!"

"As well and good as that is, I think I might throw up now." Castiel covered his mouth and stumbled around the bar, rushing to the bathroom.

"Dean." Sam looked over at his brother. "Why did one beer make Castiel want to vomit everywhere?"

"Don't judge him. It's his first alcoholic beverage. He'll get used to it." Dean assured and Sam gaped at him.

"His _first_ drink? And you made him chug it?" Sam asked in amazement and Dean wrinkled his nose and looked away.

"I didn't _make_ him do anything. I just told him to and he did. Not my fault. The kids a trooper."

"Yeah. Sure." Sam sat down and sighed and gave Dean his famous bitch face.

"Alright. Alright. I'm going to check on him..."

(^%)$)

Castiel threw up. And tried so hard to impress Dean that he tried to drink again. The whole night was an awful vicious circle. Castiel would drink (too fast), throw it up and do it all over again.

Somehow though, he was pretty buzzed when they were leaving. He was giggling and clinging to Dean like he was going to die.

"I feel like I'm at my first high school party." Dean said to Sam who was just watching Castiel in amusement.

Dean got Castiel up to his apartment and Castiel kept stumbling backwards and bumping into Dean.

"Alright, I'm going to go home." Dean said softly to Castiel who gave him the most heartbroken face. "What's wrong?" Castiel tumbled into Dean's arms and nuzzled up to his chest.

"I will miss you." Dean chuckled and wrapped his arm around the drunken man in front of him. "You should stay."

"I should?" Dean smirked and Castiel looked up at him with his big blue eyes.

"I think you should." He said quietly and Dean kissed his forehead and Castiel went to kiss him and Dean stopped. "What did I do?"

"You, my friend are going to go brush your teeth. You've thrown up like 17 times today." Castiel's eyebrows furrowed together and he huffed and walked to the bathroom. Dean wasn't surprised to hear that he had an electronic toothbrush.

Castiel was ready for bed and ran into his bedroom calling for Dean to come with him. After a quick text to Sam, Dean slid his phone in his pocket and walked into the bedroom.

"I'm here Cass..." Castiel smiled warmly and Dean slid into the bed next to Castiel and held him close. Castiel tried to get closer even though it was practically impossible. The two stayed entwined for a while, listening to each other breath and Castiel listened closely to Dean's beating heart. He felt at home. He finally felt comfortable.

"No one ever stays with me like this..." Castiel whispered.

"I hope they won't, especially now." Dean kissed Castiel lightly. "Because you're kind of taken." Castiel glowed with pride and kissed Dean back enthusiastically. "Does that make you happy?" Castiel nodded and both of them rest their heads down and watched each other by the light from the street lamps outside. Dean leaned in to kiss Castiel again and Castiel stopped him. "What?" Castiel seemed bothered. He climbed out of bed.

"I always sleep on the left side." Dean shifted over with a playful huff.

* * *

I can't wait to post the next chapter so hurry and review! :)

And let me know how I'm doing with Cas and Dean right now. I want to make sure they're still in character to a good point. And with Castiel's clinginess, you have to understand that it's his first time having friends :)

BTW if you want to be my beta I would love one!


	7. Chapter 7

Thank you Guest and SilentHowler!

And Guest, you will see eventually what happens. I want you guys to get very close to them as a couple before I rip out your hearts :)

* * *

Chapter seven:

Castiel woke up rather alarmed. He had no clue as to why his head was throbbing, his mouth was dry and everything hurt.

"So sleeping beauty is awake, huh?" He jerked his body and stared at Dean wide-eyed. "Relax, princess. I'm not here to steal your virtue. You were very demanding that I stayed here last night." Castiel turned pink and looked away trying to fix his hair. He probably looked like the complete opposite of presentable. "Calm down." Dean pulled Castiel back onto his chest. Castiel relaxed instantly. Dean smiled. "So, angel. What would you like to do today? I'm all yours." Castiel's excitement was so high it burned through his veins.

"I would like to take a shower." Dean smiled at him and nodded. "Would you like to take a shower as well?"

"Are you inviting me with you?" Dean teased seductively against Castiel's cheek. Dean could feel Castiel tense beneath him and relished in it. "Or would you rather be alone." Shivers were sent down Castiel's spine and his breathing hitched. He barely knew what he was feeling. All he knew was it was somehow pleasant.

"As gratifying as that would be, I feel too gross right now." As the words came out, Castiel wondered if he actually wanted Dean to be with him in the shower. And after he said it, Dean tried to hide his disappointment.

Castiel left to the bathroom and Dean heard the shower turn on. He looked around Castiel's room absentmindedly and noticed Castiel's towels were neatly folded on a chair in the corner. Dean wondered if Castiel had more towels in the bathroom but on a whim he decided to do something he used to do for Sam when he was younger.

He grabbed a towel and walked over to the dryer and threw it in, turned on the dryer and leaned against it, carefully listening to the water running in the bathroom as he played on his phone.

)^*%(

When Castiel got out of the shower he looked down and saw that there was a towel folded on the top of the toilet. He was confused because he never put towels there but when he picked it up he felt the warmth and smiled at it.

(^)%()

"I need to get up for work..." Castiel grumbled sleepily at Dean who had him in the the tightest bear hug he ever had.

"No. Call out. Tell them your sick." Dean said, the tiredness apparent in his raspy voice. "Lay down, cuddle with me and let's sleep until it's a normal person hour."

"I want to..." Dean held Castiel tighter and kissed his neck. "Dean..."

"I know. You want to go to work for some _strange_ reason. At 4:30 in the morning." Castiel chuckled quietly.

"Yes, but I get out earlier than you." He countered and Dean grunted.

"When you stay on a normal 8 hour shift, yes. But you have the tendency to stay until _I_ get out of work."

"There's really not much for me to do..." Castiel felt his body relax considerably. He was so exhausted. Dean made him watch a movie marathon until almost midnight.

"I know..." Dean started to fall back asleep with his death grip still on Castiel.

A few more minutes couldn't hurt...

(%)^*

"Cass! Wake up!" Castiel's eyes popped open and he looked at the clock.

"Damn it..." He closed his eyes and tried to diminish his anger. He was a half an hour late for work. "I'm going to smite you..."

"I would love you to try." Dean winked, now more awake after the panic. Castiel pushed himself out of bed and got ready for the day.

*)^%($

"Sooo what are you wearing?" Dean asked seductively over the phone. He heard Castiel sigh.

"A sexy garment of clothing." He said dryly and Dean scoffed.

"You're so not good at this. Anyway, do you mind if Sammy and I swing by tonight?" Castiel perked up. He normally didn't see Dean on Wednesdays. It was usually the weekend and Monday occasionally.

"For dinner?"

"If you wanna cook. We're god awful at it." Castiel heard a voice yell "Hey, speak for yourself." Dean chuckled. "Yeah Sammy, you make a mean oatmeal." "Oatmeal is _healthy_, Dean. I care about my body." "You're such a woman."

"Sounds like you guys are getting along better..." Castiel mused and Dean sent a glare at Sam who bitch-faced him back.

"Bitch." "Jerk."

"I will go get dinner started and you can come over whenever." Dean made a noise, assuring he heard what Castiel said and hung up right after that. Castiel stared at the phone with pursed lips and sighed. He needed to teach Dean manners.

Castiel turned on his TV. For some reason his TV did this weird thing where it turned on the music station and no matter what button he pressed, the screen came up with '?' and stayed on the channel. So Castiel had been listening to music with his TV and nothing else. At least he liked the song. It was called "The Scientist" and Castiel found himself humming it very frequently (because he couldn't sing for shit).

Castiel and Dean had been officially seeing each other for about 5 weeks. They had been the greatest few weeks of his life. It was also pretty nice because he gained another friend. Sam. Sam was a great friend to Castiel and they liked each other. Castiel felt so blessed for finding these two.

About an hour later Dean and Sam walked through the door. Castiel didn't mind that they didn't knock anymore. It gave him less to worry about.

"Cass! We brought beer!" Dean shouted across the apartment like Castiel wasn't ten feet away.

"And we're cutting you off if you throw up." Sam added with a laugh. Castiel sighed. He was never going to live that one down.

"What are you making me, angel?" Dean asked, walking behind Castiel and kissing his cheek.

"I made salad-"

"-UGH-"

"-for Sam and I, along with garlic asparagus and steaks."

"Oh thank god you made steak. I'll have that, you losers can have the salad." Dean proclaimed and grabbed the plate of steaks. But secretly, he was really happy that Castiel tried his best to make things that both him and Sam would like. And that alone made him smile.

"You're making the table first." Castiel said stoically and Dean cursed under his breath.

"Fine but that means we're watching Star Wars tonight." Dean countered and Sam sighed loudly.

"Seriously? Again? Do you have any other movies you want to binge watch?"

"Listen, Bitch. I watch what I want." Dean countered and Sam responded with a sour look.

"Jerk." Dean smiled as though he'd won the argument and looked around the cabinets for the plates and very slowly set the table. He knew Castiel had this weird OCD thing and if everything wasn't aligned _just_ right, he would have an anxiety attack. Seriously. It's happened before. Dean didn't want to deal with that right now. Or ever again.

It got to be so bad that Dean actually started to bring measuring tape with him to make sure everything was where it needed to be. Castiel appreciated the dedication and Sam just made fun of Dean every time he did it.

"So, Sam. When is Jess coming down?" Castiel inquired and Sam turned to him and shrugged.

"No clue. She's visiting family right now. But she should be here within the week." He answered and Castiel nodded. Castiel had never met Jess, but he's heard nothing but good things about her so a part of him was excited to meet her. Another part was slightly jealous, he just got Sam to be his friend and he honestly didn't want to lose him. He knew he wasn't going to _lose_ Sam forever. But with Jess there, he would certainly be distracted and Castiel didn't want Sam to stop hanging out with him.

Castiel had some serious abandonment issues.

There was a loud knock at his door and Castiel stood up straight. Dean looked at the door confused.

"Did you invite over more people?" He asked and Castiel shook his head, confused himself. He walked over and when he opened the door, Dean was right behind him. And there in all his glory was Lucifer.

"Oh look. Castiel made some friends. Goodie." He stepped in the apartment without Castiel inviting him and Dean didn't know how to feel about this stranger barging into Castiel's apartment. "I will venture a guess that Castiel hadn't mentioned me?"

"I have." Castiel said, eyes narrowed. "What makes you think I'd hide you?" Okay, Dean was really confused. He didn't recall Castiel telling him about another guy.

"Because. You're secretive." Lucifer stated simply. "My name is Lucifer. I am Castiel's older brother." Dean's expression changed from annoyance to interested. "You must be Dean. Castiel had mentioned you..." Lucifer's eyes trailed to the doorway to the kitchen, where Sam stood, practically hunched over to fit in the door frame. "I don't believe I know this gentleman."

"That is Sam. Dean's brother. He is my friend." Castiel answered evenly. Lucifer smiled widely.

"This is great. You have _two_ friends." If it were anyone but Castiel, Dean would assume that was an insult. But Lucifer seemed to approve of the fact that his brother had friends. Which made him think about how awful Castiel's upbringing must've been for his brother to realize that he was lonely and Dean had never seen Castiel with him. If Sam was lonely Dean would be with him everyday.

"I have three. Gabriel is my friend." Castiel said proudly and Dean found amusement in the way Castiel held his friends. He was very proud to have friends and the realization hit him again and Dean just frowned. Poor Cass.

"So, I wanted to visit my baby brother and it turns out I already have people keeping him company..." Lucifer pondered out loud. "Should I take my leave?"

"No. You can stay for dinner." Castiel turned to Dean. "Can you make a placement setting for one more?" Dean sighed and pulled out his measuring tape and walked to the kitchen.

)(^%)*

Once they settled down for dinner, they found themselves to be put in a comfortable atmosphere despite having a new addition to their group. Lucifer deemed to be quite entertaining when he wanted to be and had an odd obsession with Sam. Dean cleared his throat after a couple minutes of silence and Castiel looked up at him in wonder. Dean turned to Sam who nodded with a smile and Dean nodded back and looked at Castiel again.

"Castiel, Sam and I have something we wanted to ask you. We were going to wait but as it turns out, Jess will be here sooner than later." Dean started.

"Yeah, and Dean has been great with letting me crash at his place" Castiel then realized he still had never seen Dean's apartment. That made him frown. "But only I can sleep on the couch. There isn't room for Jess." He looked at Dean so Dean knew it was his turn to talk.

"So Sammy and I have been looking into bigger places and we found a nice apartment with three bedrooms, two bathrooms; both of which have a much better shower than yours does, sorry. A laundry room, pretty much the works. We were just wondering... Are you interested?" Castiel's heart sped up and his face flushed. Dean was asking him to move in with him. Was this supposed to happen? It's only been a bit over a month. They hadn't even seen each other naked yet (which was on Castiel, but still). And now they would be moving in together?

Castiel stared down at the table. He would be with Dean, Sam and Jess. All the time. He would have times to sit in the living room with _friends_ whenever he wanted. He could see Dean _all the time_. They could make dinner _every _night.

"You don't have to if you're uncomfortable-" Sam started.

"-No. I want to. When do we move?" Castiel noticed the huge grin on Dean's face and Lucifer eyed him suspiciously.

"I want to see the apartment first." He said and Dean nodded, too busy basking in the happiness that they were all going to be together. It was going to be awesome.

Castiel's mind was still reeling and he had to keep catching his breath. But it was a great feeling. He was going to be happy. Finally. And he could go to bed every night knowing Dean was near him. That's all he could ever ask for.

"What's the third bedroom for?" Castiel asked, Sam grinned, Dean frowned.

"We're turning it into a library." That made Castiel all the more excited.

* * *

Review quickly. Next chapter has some sexy times in it. ;)


	8. Chapter 8

Listen guys, It might be a couple days before i update because I work two jobs but that doesn't mean I don't love you less!

Thank you Guest and SilentHowler! :) Your reviews continue to fuel me.

BTW as I promised before, there is some sexy times going on up in this b.

* * *

Chapter eight:

"You're packed already?" Dean said, impressed.

"You told me to be ready today." Castiel replied stiffly, like he was embarrassed that he wasn't in on a joke.

"That's cute. You listen to me. Sammy just rolls his eyes." Dean pulled Castiel into a hug. "Don't suppose your bed is packed already?" Dean purred and Castiel's face turned bright red. Dean smiled at that. "I love when you get all shy."

"Shut up, you... assbutt." Castiel said defiantly and Dean snorted and covered his mouth. "What?"

"_Assbutt_? That's your clever insult?"

"Let's see you do one better, _assbutt_." Castiel narrowed his eyes and Dean just stood there with a grin and kissed Castiel. Even after a month and change, Castiel was surprised to feel Dean's lips on his.

"Whoa, my virgin eyes didn't need to see that!" Sam exclaimed and Castiel pulled away, completely flushed.

"Yeah, I'm sure you are a virgin, too Sammy." Dean said with a glare. Sam smiled.

"Dean, _I'm_ a virgin." Castiel whispered to Dean who covered his mouth.

"I know, Cass. We do have sex all the time." Castiel shoved him and Dean grabbed Castiel's arm and they both fell onto the floor. "Abuse! He's abusing me!"

"Yeah I'm sure. Anyway, you guys ready? Can we start loading the car? Jess will be there soon and I want to make sure we're there for her."

#*)$(

Castiel finally met the famous Jess. Sam and Dean had talked about how great she was and Castiel had to agree. He hoped he would become close friends with her too. She was very nice and she even liked reading. It turns out, the only one who wouldn't like the library room was Dean. They all had books to add to the room and the more books Jess and Sam stocked on the shelves, the more excited Castiel got to read more.

The first night in the apartment was very _very_ cold. And none of them had the beds moved in so with all the blankets, pillows and towels they made a giant bed on the floor of the living room and all sat there for a while just talking.

Castiel didn't know this was something he wanted in his life but the whole time, he couldn't help but smile. He had people to share his life with. He didn't have to be alone anymore. Everything was going to be perfect.

"Cass, you good? You're sitting there smiling like an idiot." Dean whispered when Sam and Jess were immersed in a conversation. Castiel turned to Dean with a frown.

"Am I not allowed to smile?" Dean shook his head.

"I've just never seen you so happy before."

"You've known me for almost two months." Castiel retorted, Dean shrugged.

"Still. But I'm glad your happy. I want to make you always feel like that." Dean laced their fingers together and squeezed Castiel's hand.

"You always do."

"I always will."

That was a promise that Castiel would always remember. No matter what, Dean wanted to make him happy.

$*#)(#

Sam first started the tradition but since he started it, it stuck. For the time being, Sam was an intern, training to be a lawyer. Jess was currently looking for a job, Castiel still worked at the cafe and Dean still worked at the shop. Castiel now made sure he was home by 3, Dean was home by 5 and so was Sam.

Sam was the first person to go grocery shopping and he had Castiel help him with dinner. Slowly Jess started helping and now even Dean was seen in the kitchen before dinner. They always had a job to do for dinner each night and they all ate dinner and watched an episode of whatever show they were binge-watching.

They took turns doing the dishes but usually Castiel did them on Dean's day since Dean would always bitch about it. Castiel didn't mind because of the smile Dean gave him after.

After dinner one night Castiel dumped his glass of milk all over his pants and Jess jumped up and helped him clean it up. Dean laughed and Sam glared at Dean and handed Castiel more napkins.

"I'm going to go shower..." He mumbled, completely embarrassed.

"Hey, angel. Don't be shy." Dean tugged Castiel's arm and pulled him down for a kiss. "You don't have to get all read. Don't cry over spilled milk."

"Shut up..." Castiel sighed and walked downstairs. Him and Dean had the basement room. It was rather large and had it's own bathroom. Castiel liked the dark.

After Castiel turned on the shower and climbed in, he heard the door open.

"Cass? I'm sorry if I upset you." It was Dean. He sounded pretty sincere, so Castiel poked his head out of the curtain.

"It's okay. I'm just not... feeling right today." Castiel admitted and Dean walked into the bathroom further. Castiel felt his body tense. He hadn't let Dean look at him without boxers yet, he was too shy. He's seen Dean naked plenty of times though. He had no shame.

"You want me to join you?" Dean's voice was so low. It gave Castiel goosebumps. "Is that a yes?" He smirked and was shocked when Castiel nodded slowly. He didn't let his expression give away his emotion and slowly started to undress giving Castiel plenty of time to change his mind. By the time he reached his boxers he looked Castiel in the eyes. "Are you positive?"

Castiel couldn't think straight. But that's okay. It was a fine distraction. He gave Dean a slow nod and Dean gave him a crooked smile. When he slid down his boxers, Castiel couldn't notice that he was semi-hard. His face lit up and he hid behind the curtain. He felt Dean move into the shower behind him and Dean wrapped his arms around Castiel's waist and pulled his wet body close to him. Castiel felt Dean's slow rising erection against his back and Dean's hands wonder around Castiel's hip bones.

"Dean... what are you doing?" Castiel wanted his voice to sound flat, like always, but his voice cracked with need he didn't know he had.

"I will stop if you want..." Dean nibbled on the back of Castiel's shoulder. Dean felt Castiel's knees buckle. "But I'll have you know..." Dean spread Castiel's legs apart and rubbed his inner thighs. "That I _really_ want to touch you."

Castiel couldn't have agreed more. He _really_ wanted Dean to not stop. His heart was racing and he felt himself get hard. It's not like Castiel never got hard in his life or anything. But this time, it hurt. He felt himself throb with lust as Dean rubbed his hands everywhere but his cock. He lost himself and started grinding against Dean, who was moaning in his ear, enjoying the whimpers he was getting from Castiel.

"Please." That's all Castiel could choke out and Dean didn't wait. His hand slid up Castiel's thigh and he grabbed Castiel so tightly that Castiel forgot how to breathe. "Dean..." He whined and let his head fall back onto Dean's shoulder. Dean kissed his neck lightly as he massaged Castiel's cock with long slow motions and grinned at Castiel's awkward movements.

"You like that, angel?" Dean purred and Castiel nodded his head vigorously. Dean's hands were rough and calloused from the labor intensive work he did but that made the friction all the more apparent. Dean loved the feeling of Castiel thrusting into his hand.

Dean suddenly spun Castiel around and pushed him against the wall, pressing his lips against Castiel's and grabbed under Castiel's ass and pinned him to the wall. Castiel wrapped his legs around Dean's waist and arched his back, feeling Dean's cock rub against his. Dean was biting his lip and squeezing his upper thighs. Castiel's arms wrapped around Dean's neck and pulled him closer. He wanted them to be even closer. He felt like they weren't. Dean must've felt the same way with how hard he was pressing Castiel to the wall.

Castiel opened his eyes and gasped at Dean rubbing a finger at his hole. Dean slowly opened his eyes and Castiel could've melted in the green. Dean was just so handsome.

Castiel couldn't control himself. His head leaned back against the wall and he bit his lip. Dean took both of their cocks in his hand and Castiel's breathing got heavier, so did Dean's. He was just eying Castiel writhe in front of him. But what set him over the edge was the almost cry Castiel gave, saying Dean's name. Castiel came all over himself and Dean followed shortly after.

Dean relaxed his grip on Castiel and pulled away slightly but gave him a lot of soft kisses all over his face. Castiel was out of breath for a long while afterwords.

#$*)(

Before Castiel thought he couldn't not think about Dean. Now he felt obsessed. He wanted to be with Dean all the time. It didn't matter what they were doing. He wanted to learn how to work on cars so he could work with Dean.

He was beginning to annoy himself.

Castiel was sitting on the couch biting his thumb. A habit he seemed to form out of absolutely nowhere. Jess was sitting on the chair reading a book, sending him worried glances every couple of minutes until she finally closed the book and asked him what was wrong.

"What do you mean?" He asked evenly. She shook her head and put the book on the coffee table (unevenly, Castiel noticed).

She sat next to Castiel and he just was overwhelmed of the warmth in her eyes. He learned over the passed few weeks how sweet Jess was. She was very welcoming and Castiel tried to be just as nice. He didn't think of her as _his_ friend though until now.

"Cass, I can see somethings bothering you. What's wrong?" She asked sweetly. Before he knew it, Castiel had blurred out everything on his mind. Even things he didn't even notice.

"I don't know what's wrong with me." and "I'm so distracted." turned into "What if Dean decides he doesn't like me anymore?" and "I don't want to lose all of my new friends."

He spoke so quickly that Jess had a hard time keeping up with him but she managed.

"Cass. Nothing is wrong with you. This is new to you and it scares everyone. You love Dean and you're scared to lose him. That is a completely normal feeling. And even if, major if, you and Dean were to break up, you know if you ever needed me, I would be here for you. But you're such a sweetheart I don't see Dean letting you go. Ever. And if he did, that would be a huge mistake on his part."

Castiel just stared at her in mild awe. Sure, Dean had spoken kind words to him. So had his brother. Even Gabriel threw in random comments. But Castiel never trusted anyone with his fears and here he was dumping them on a girl he met a couple of weeks ago. And she _cared_. She listened and he realized he could talk to her.

With no further comments, he just smiled at Jess, and she smiled back.

*$#)

"Dean." Castiel said randomly. They were laying in bed, Dean was facing the wall. He was exhausted.

"Yeah Cass?" He said sleepily.

"Have you ever thought about us?" Castiel asked and swallowed hard. He didn't know why he was so nervous all of a sudden.

"I think about us all the time, angel." Castiel took a deep breath and Dean rolled over so he was facing Castiel.

"Is something bothering you?" Castiel looked at Dean. Even in the dark he could make out his face. He could stare at Dean all day. Sometimes he was close do doing just that, too.

"I suppose." Castiel agreed and Dean sat up, despite being dead tired and pulled Castiel into a hug.

"Cass, you know I'm always here, right? No matter what happens. I will always find my way back to you and I hope you feel the same way." And Castiel did. He couldn't think of anything Dean could do that he wouldn't forgive him for. He wanted to be with Dean. He'd never been in love before, but every fiber of his being was screaming that he was in love with Dean. He wasn't foolish enough to think he was Dean's first love. Hell, maybe he wasn't even the second. But Castiel would be damned if he wasn't the last. He wanted to be with Dean for as long as he could.

"I love you." Castiel said it like an off-thought. Dean kissed his temple and held him close.

"I'd hope so." Castiel looked at Dean expectantly and Dean smiled softly and ruffled Castiel's hair. "I love you too, Cass."

Yeah. It didn't matter. He would wait forever to hear Dean say those words again, and again. He wasn't going to let go of him. Castiel felt it. He was meant to be with Dean. And as Castiel had these thoughts, Dean was looking into Castiel's eyes thinking the same thing.

They would both fight for each other. From some guy Castiel met at the cafe, Dean had turned out to be the most important person that he'd ever met. And he wasn't going to let anyone take him away.

Dean looked at Castiel as someone who needed to be protected, he knew Castiel was smart but at the same time really oblivious. And he didn't want anyone else to be there for him. Because that was _his_ Cass, and no one else would have him.

* * *

Yay! The start of a completely dependable obsessive relationship :) I don't know how much longer until I write the angst you're all looking forward to. I want you guys to get emotionally involved first.

Please review!


	9. Chapter 9

I know I said that I wasn't going to update for a few days because of work but I couldn't do that to you guys. I love you too much.

So this chapter we have their first fight, and Christmas, Part one! :)

Again, thank you Guest and SilentHowler. You guys are my buddies now :D

And omg I can't believe that my avatar picture is this story's picture. Its a naked man with doritos as a face. lmfao, no one will want to read it now. They'll think I'm really weird lol

* * *

Chapter nine:

Dean learned a lot of things about his boyfriend as weeks passed. He learned that Castiel, for the most part, didn't eat bread. His favorite snack was Mozzarella cheeze-its and he could eat a whole box by himself if he didn't get them taken away in time. He loved books about mythology and stories that didn't necessarily have a happy ending. He had every Ellen Hopkins, Stephen King, John Green, and H.P Lovecraft book there was. When he was tired he got grumpy. When he was happy he would stare at you for like twelve years. He really liked messed up shows (Like American Horror Story) and every Tuesday he cleaned the bathroom top to bottom, even if it wasn't messy.

Dean loved his quirks, he loved the way Castiel would say his name. And how he would cling to Dean after a long day without him. Dean could very easily see that Castiel _needed _him. And Dean was oddly okay with it. Dean barely got time without Castiel besides when they were at work but Dean found himself missing Castiel the more they were together.

Castiel had also learned a lot of things about Dean. Like how Dean's temper could flip at the flick of the switch, especially with Sam. Dean could eat a disgusting amount of bacon cheeseburgers in one day. Dean's favorite pie was apple. He loved to talk with his mouth opened (which oddly, Castiel never said anything about. He was too smitten). Dean had this weird thing for Soap Operas and Castiel could never understand it. When Castiel first found out Dean tried changing the channel but after a while Dean just accepted Castiel would find out sooner than later. And every Monday night he would hide the cleaning products.

Castiel saw passed Dean's flaws and loved every tiny detail Dean had to offer. When Dean wasn't around, Castiel wasn't very happy. He loved being next to Dean. And Dean loved being wanted.

But they were still in their "Honeymoon" stage, so they weren't prepared.

Their first argument was over something _really _small but Castiel was exhausted from work and Dean was just hungry.

"Where do you wanna go eat?" Dean asked and Castiel sighed from the bed. He should've thought about it, he realizes this now. Every Friday they go out to eat and this time it was Castiel's pick. He forgot about it.

"I don't know." Castiel said quietly. He wasn't really hungry, either. He just wanted to sleep but he saw Dean's face. He knew Dean was hungry and he felt bad that he hadn't given it more thought.

"Are you serious, Cass? You've had ALL week to decide." Dean snapped. Castiel shrunk away from Dean.

"I'm sorry, I didn't really think about it. I'm just really tired..." Castiel averted his gaze from Dean's red hot glare and shifted uncomfortably.

"You know what? _Fine_. You can stay here and _I'll_ go out with Sam and Jess." Castiel looked at him with a hurt expression.

"Please don't. I want to go with you." He said quickly and Dean put his hand up to shut him up.

"Too late now." Dean stormed into the bathroom and Castiel looked down at the floor, ashamed of himself. Poor Dean was at work all day and Castiel just had one job and he couldn't do it.

He felt so stupid. He hung his head and heard the shower turn on and swallowed hard. Maybe Dean would forgive him when he came out.

Castiel quickly brushed his hair, it was everywhere. He didn't want to embarrass Dean in front of everyone. He got changed into better clothes. He made the bed nice and neat. He pulled out Dean's favorite pants and his blue button up shirt with a white tee under it and socks and even placed Dean's non-work shoes by the pile. He sat down on the bed next to the pile with his hands in his lap and waited.

Dean finally came out of the shower and looked over at Castiel and frowned.

"What is this?" He asked and Castiel smiled at him.

"I picked out your clothes. I'm sorry I upset you. Please forgive me." Dean was still in a bad mood and just shook his head and started to get dressed. Castiel looked at him expectantly. He waited. Dean said nothing. He tied his shoes and stood up and walked to the stairs. "Dean?"

"What!?" He snapped and looked back. He saw Castiel's face. He didn't want to falter. He hated apologizing.

"Please... Don't leave me." Dean saw the legitimate fear in Castiel's face. His eyes got really red and if you paid close enough attention, he was shaking. "Please." His voice cracked and Dean melted. His shoulders relaxed and he turned around and walked over to Castiel and cupped his cheek.

"Angel, I would never leave you." He whispered and just like that, Castiel's fears disappeared. His aching heart skipped a beat and he smiled at Dean. His Dean. His Dean forever. Castiel quickly kissed him like Dean would change his mind. Dean kissed back, but slower. He wanted Castiel to relax. Dean's arms wrapped around Castiel and he swayed back and forth. It was such a small movement but Castiel found himself completely relaxed, sharing kisses with the love of his life.

After that, Castiel learned to never disappoint Dean. And he tried his hardest to never do it.

*)*$#(&%

The house was warmer than usual. It was just a couple days until Christmas. Sam and Jess had decorations from their previous apartment. Castiel had none but bought some. And they all pitched in for a tree. Except Castiel ruined a tradition because he wanted a fake tree. Real trees were messy and no one wanted to deal with OCD Cass around Christmas. Or at all.

It was weeks since their last fight and Castiel was happy that they seemed perfect since then. Occasionally tempers flared but the never really did much about it. And now he was spending his holiday with someone as perfect as was pretty happy about the outcome. Jess and Castiel outdid themselves with making the place look like Santa vomited Christmas and it was his first Christmas as such. Him and Sam usually picked a bush at best when they were younger and traded really shitty gifts while their father was out at work. It was a dull childhood. But when Dean looked at the amazing person Sam was today, he was proud. _He_ raised Sam. And _he_ did a damn good job.

Picking out Castiel's present was both the hardest and the easiest thing to do. He knew Castiel would love anything he got him but it was their first Christmas together and they've been dating for... what was it? Wow it was like four months already? Time flies. But Dean was sure he picked out the perfect present. Castiel didn't know what to get Dean. So he got him like... seven different things. He wanted Dean to be happy and everyone loved getting gifts, right?

Speaking of gifts, he was pretty happy he didn't have to work Christmas. Chuck decided to close them on Christmas. Castiel couldn't wait to give everyone the presents he got them. He never really had anyone to get things for and Castiel found it gave him more happiness to buy things for other people than it did himself. He usually got Lucifer and Gabriel something. His other family members weren't really close. And Lucifer lived in the city with him so he saw him more often than anyone else.

And Lucifer, oh boy. He had this thing he loved doing. Fucking with Sam. He made Sam's life hell. And Sam always looked pissy but there was a weird part that looked like he was having fun. Lucifer stopped by every now and again just to say hello and antagonize Sam. Castiel had no clue why but he didn't really care. He liked seeing his brother. And it was worth it to see the face Lucifer made when Sam called him "Lucy" with his bitch face.

*)($#&(

On Christmas Eve, Castiel sat in the cafe with Gabriel. They really didn't get any business today. Most people were leaving the city to visit family members. Gabriel didn't mention he had any.

"What are you doing for Christmas?" Castiel asked offhandedly. Gabriel shrugged.

"Probably drink and eat a lot of candy. Like a disgusting amount of candy. So much the candy." Gabriel looked oddly aroused at that and Castiel raised an eyebrow but didn't comment.

"If you get bored, we're having a kind of party at the apartment. Jess, Dean, Sam, Lucifer and I. You're more than welcome to come." Gabriel doesn't look very serious, ever. But the smile he got from Gabriel for a brief nano-second made Castiel happy he invited him. No one wanted to be alone on Christmas.

"I'll see if I can pencil you in..." Gabriel actually pulled out a planner. "Well I _was_ going to wallow in self pity from 2pm-6pm but I guess I can reschedule that."

"Oh boy."

*)&($(*_

Christmas morning was pretty great. The group decided it would be fun to lay all the blankets and pillows on the floor in the living room and sleep in there next to the Christmas tree (which Dean so kindly placed a cardboard pine tree car freshener on to "make it feel like the real deal"... It didn't).

They woke up Christmas morning from Dean's voice yelling "presents!" even though he'd seen them the night before. They color coded them. Blue was Castiel, red was Dean, green was Sam and purple was Jess.

Castiel was shocked to find that he had more than one thing under the tree. He didn't remember the last time he had presents. There was even a couple of black ones, which was the color they assigned Lucifer. He should be there eventually. Castiel saw the tiny pile of yellow gifts, they were for Gabriel. He was excited to give Gabriel something for Christmas.

"Hey Sam, is Bobby coming?" Dean asked confused. He got the strangest message that he didn't understand.

"Damn..." Sam stood up and walked to the door, there Bobby stood with a red bow on his ball cap, looking absolutely miserable.

"Merry effing Christmas." He mumbled and Dean jumped from his seat on the floor and him and Sam hugged the very miserable looking man.

"Wanna help me make waffles?" Jess asked with a smile. Castiel nodded and followed her to the kitchen. She pulled her hair back and started pulling things out of the cabinets. She then, very gleefully, took out a waffle iron that had interchangeable shapes and pulled out the Christmas tree one. She looked very happy. "I always wanted to use this!"

Jess was adorable. She even put green dye and rainbow sprinkles in the batter so they looked like a decorated tree. Castiel placed the bacon on a sheet tray and threw them in the oven. He hated making bacon but ever since he started making it in the oven, it wasn't as bad.

Jess and Castiel were at an odd sense of peace hearing the three men in the other room joke and argue.

"Honey, I'm home!" Lucifer yelled from across the house.

"Oh, Lucy!" Sam responded immediately.

"I'm so done with them." Jess said with a grin. Castiel agreed. Now the house was even louder.

Castiel pulled out the pre-made biscuit dough that he made the other night for this breakfast. He put them in the oven with the bacon and watched in mild interest as Jess stacked on the waffles. They were very cute waffles. The sprinkles melted a bit more than she hoped and now they were faded and blotchy but they still looked like Christmas trees.

"This is going to be a bitch to clean." She giggled as she accidentally poured more than she needed to and the excess oozed over the side.

"Dean, Sam!" Castiel called and they walked into the room a few seconds later.

"Smells damn good in here!" Dean exclaimed and Jess looked playfully bashful.

"If they're staying, we should probably get the chairs." Castiel said and they went downstairs to get them. They even brought an extra for Gabriel. And Castiel was happy that he didn't have to ask Dean to set the table. He did it on his own. Well, he made Sam help.

"Honey! I'm home!" Gabriel yelled into the apartment.

"That was already done." Lucifer responded pridefully. Gabriel glared and then grinned.

"LUCY! I'M HOME!" He then ran in and tackled Lucifer to the floor, spilling (thankfully) water all over the blankets.

"What are we, five?" Bobby asked ruefully.

"Nuh-huh. I'm THIS MANY." Gabriel started doing weird things with his fingers trying to actually get his age. Lucifer then shoved him off.

"Guys, breakfast!"

Breakfast went by smoothly. Well, as smooth as these kind of things could go. Gabriel knocked over the syrup and then proceeded to lick it. Bobby looked the most horrified. Dean complained that no one made breakfast potatoes and Sam intervened and noted that Dean didn't even help make breakfast so he just pouted and shoved more biscuits in his mouth. Lucifer managed to make Sam drop all of his pieces of bacon on the floor by randomly making noises and poking and prodding at him. Sam sent him a very evil looking glare. Gabriel just giggled and pulled out sugar packets from his bag and dumped it on everything... Even his eggs. Everyone stared at him like he had two heads. He didn't care. He sat there with a smile.

Clean up was obnoxious. There were so many dishes and everyone tried to help but it made it worse because there were just _so many people_ crammed in the kitchen. Castiel was happy that he did most of the prep for dinner tonight already because the amount of dishes just for breakfast was astronomical. But everyone was happy and full. That's all that really mattered.

"You did great, angel." Dean whispered and kissed Castiel softly. "I love you."

* * *

Oh boy. Four months into the relationship and Dean is already saying "I love you" and things. (I had to wait over a year.)

And please review. I love my two reviewers but I could really use some fresh faces. Gives me the happiness. (And you need to give me the happiness I'm sick in bed writing and I have to go to two jobs tomorrow and be sick there. I did that today too. And I came home and wrote up a chapter for your reading pleasure. You're welcome, I know I'm a saint.)


	10. Chapter 10

WOW guys, thank you so much! I got a handful of reviews. You made my sick day. :)

Thank you SilentHowler, Guest(1?) and Guest(2?), cherrytops82, and bei. You guys are the reason I didn't sleep all day. I had to put this chapter up.

* * *

Chapter ten:

"Can we open presents now?!" Dean yelled impatiently with a playful pout.

"Oh my god, Dean. Shut up." Sam retorted, so annoyed with Lucifer and Gabriel poking at him all morning. He was sitting in between Lucifer and Gabriel with his arms crossed and a frown.

"Oooo, Sammy is all macho now." Lucifer pinched Sam's side and Sam flinched away from him only to have Gabriel tickle him under his arm pit.

"Oh my god, why!?" Jess giggled at her boyfriend's misfortune and started to hand out stockings. Everyone had one. They were filled with gag gifts.

Castiel got "An Idiot's Guide to Social Interaction", a tiny box of Mozzarella cheese-its, a picture of a pickle, an actual pickle, and some penis shaped lollipops.

"Who in god's name picked these out?" Castiel asked out loud, no one answered. They were too busy opening their own stockings.

Dean got a calendar filled with hot rod cars, a wrench (no specific type, just a random pink wrench), a piece of pie (in a zip-lock bag, who _does_ that?) and a miniature model of his car. He didn't say anything, he opened the zip-lock bag and started eating the pie.

Sam opened his stocking to find a plush moose. No explanation. Just a moose. That was it. He stared at it in such confusion that he was lost for words.

Jess excitedly dumped out her stocking. It was filled with random chap-sticks (as she always complained she lost hers. there were probably 37 chap-sticks all together), women's laxatives (she assumed this was a poke at an inside joke she shared with Lucifer), a mini moose with a tiara crudely attached, and a nut assortment.

Bobby got a new hat, same as the one he was currently wearing, a bible, a toothbrush, a princess ribbon, and a pack of raspberry chocolate cookies. He just shook his head and mumbled "why" to himself a bunch of times.

Gabriel was praying for candy when he opened his stocking. He was severely disappointed. His stocking was literally filled with vegetables. He was so distressed and Sam mumbled a "why didn't _I_ get _that_ stocking" but no one paid attention.

Lucifer was last to open his because he was so curious to see what everyone else got. When he finally got his turn he was not disappointed in the lack of creativity. There was a book on Satan worshiping, a tiny dog with horns and a devil tail that sang "bad to the bone" when you touched it's paw, a key to an elevator (not a specific one) and a really gross penny from the year he was born.

"So can we open presents now?" Dean asked with his mouth full of pie so it sounded a lot like "uh ahn ee ohhenn eehents ow."

"He's so majestic." Castiel said with a smile, it was a sarcastic remark but he had such a nice smile on that it looked like he was just really impressed with Dean's table manners.

*)^%(

Presents time was great, there was a lot of wrapping paper everywhere. The only gifts worth mentioning was Gabriel's giant Reese's bar, Castiel's complete Law and Order SVU box set, Dean's beautifully crafted pocket knife and mini bar, Sam's _other_ moose (and his new shirt that said "duck, duck, moose", and his very warm looking moose footsie pajamas which he responded with "how the hell did you even find a size to fit me?"), Lucifer got a megaphone and Sam cried, Jess got those _really _cute shoes that she's been wanting 5ever, and Bobby got the most metal gift of all. _Disappointment_.

"I still can't believe you idjits got me a damn life-alert bracelet." He was grumbling up a storm and Sam and Dean laughed so hard they almost peed themselves.

*)(#*$)#

Dinner came around not to long after and they had to beg Bobby to stay because he was still pretty butt-hurt about his bracelet. Eventually he came around when he was able to smell what was cooking.

Sam, Jess, Castiel and surprisingly Lucifer were all crammed in the kitchen fixing a different dish. Sam was making a sweet potato casserole, Jess was fixing up the fresh corn and finished off the other batch of biscuits, Castiel was finishing up the turkey and Lucifer was making mashed potatoes. The house smelled pretty damn good.

Castiel even had help at work making a couple of pies for the party. He wanted them to be a surprise for Dean. But he didn't dare bring them out yet, he waited until after Dean had his dinner.

Dean got the mini-bar set up and started pouring drinks and making specialty drinks because he was excited he finally got a mini bar. There was even a box of tiny alcohol bottles and stuff to make his drinks. But suddenly Gabriel jumped up and everyone looked at him. He pulled up his bookbag and dug through it and pulled out a lump of clothes.

"I almost forgot!" He then started passing them out. Everyone looked at the sweaters in confusion. "Come on guys, ugly Christmas sweaters." He said like it was an obvious thing, then pulled one over his head. It had a picture of two reindeer having sex on it. But blocky sex because it was a hand knitted sweater.

"Thank god, I got just a reindeer." Sam said in relief.

"Um, Sam. I think that's a moose." Lucifer pointed out after Sam had already put on the shirt. He looked away at nothing with the most annoyed face, and pursed lips.

Castiel got a sweater that looked like a cardigan, shirt and tie, with the most obnoxious pattern of trees and candy canes. Lucifer's was green and had little bulbs everywhere that he later figured out they actually lit up. He was more impressed than anything. Dean's was two ugly looking snowmen dancing happily. Jess had a red sweater with large ridiculous looking tree ornaments and candy canes.

Gabriel felt bad because he didn't know Bobby nor knew he needed an extra sweater so took it upon himself to put a Santa hat over Bobby's head. Bobby just sat there and glared, not doing anything about it.

"That's the christmas spirit!" Dean cheered and started to set the table. Gabriel helped, oddly enough.

*%)$(^

"I love you." Dean whispered into Castiel's ear once they were all ready for bed. Castiel smiled softly at Dean and kissed him.

"I love you." He said softly and Dean stroked his cheek slowly and his green eyes scanned Castiel's face lovingly.

"So much." Dean leaned in and kissed Castiel. "Thank you for today."

"My pleasure." Castiel responded quietly. "Is there anything else you want for Christmas?"

"_You_." Dean's husky tone instantly had Castiel crave Dean.

"How do you want me?" Castiel asked evenly, trying to keep his excitement down. Dean looked over Castiel's face again and his hand rubbed his cheek as his thumb pressed against Castiel's soft lips.

"I want your mouth around me." Dean said boldly.

Castiel nodded urgently and ripped the covers off Dean. He got in between Dean's thighs and stared directly into Dean's eyes. Dean's cock throbbed and Castiel leaned and and slowly licked it from the base to the head. Dean squirmed and let out a sigh.

"I need you Cass. Please." Dean's begging voice sounded so hot, it made Castiel even harder. He tried to concentrate on what he was supposed to be doing but it was hard now that he felt the pre-cum trickle down onto his thigh.

Castiel slid Dean's head into his mouth and let his tongue playfully lick the slit. Dean's hand grabbed tightly onto Castiel's hair and he was gaining a rhythm, thrusting his hips slowly in and out of Castiel's mouth. Castiel pinned Dean's hips down and started to bite Dean's thighs. He loved Dean's thighs. They were so muscular and sexy. He kissed his way up to Dean's moist cock again and this time put as much as he could in his mouth. Dean sucked in a breath.

Castiel wrapped his fingers around the area he couldn't fit in his mouth and massaged it gently. He liked the way Dean moved underneath him. It let him know he had the power. It was in his control if Dean could finish and he loved that. He wanted Dean to cum because of _him_.

As it turns out, the lack of sexual acts made Dean a pretty easy target for that. Not even a couple minutes later he was gasping, moaning and gripping Castiel's hair like it was the only thing to hold on to.

"Cass... Oh, angel. I'm..." He couldn't finish his sentence. He was so close. Castiel took Dean's cock out of his mouth and Dean came forcefully all over Castiel's face. Dean was panting and it took him a minute to catch his breath but he looked at his cum all over Castiel's face and it was hard to not get turned on again.

*)^%()$

New Years wasn't taken place at home, where Castiel usually went to bed at the same time he always did. Eight. They went to Ellen's bar. It was the whole group there too. Castiel should feel excited but he was more tired than anything.

His brother was talking to Gabriel and they were drinking at the bar. Lucifer was drinking a Guinness and Gabriel had a Malibu Sunrise. Castiel decided he wasn't going to drink that night. And if he did, he wasn't going to drink a lot. He didn't like the feeling of after he drank so he sat next to Dean as he drank scotch. Sam had the same thing and Jess didn't drink either. Not that she didn't want to, she liked to drink. But she wasn't feeling it just yet. Castiel decided to himself, if he was to drink, he would drink with Jess. She was much more his pace than any of the guys there.

"Do you have any pie!?" Dean practically screamed over the loud background noise of people talking.

"No! Jo isn't here yet!" Ellen responded just as loud. She was getting slammed tonight. There was so many people there, she was glad she had help. Even Bobby came to help her bartend. He drank as he did it but whatever, she didn't have to pay him then.

Dean turned to Castiel with a cute smile on his face. He leaned in to talk to him since it was so damn loud in the bar.

"You're going to be my last kiss of this year and my first kiss of next year." He said and Castiel's face warmed and he smiled softly. Dean kissed his cheek. "Oh Cass, you're my favorite."

"You are also favorable to me." Castiel responded and Dean shook his head as he took another sip of his drink.

^*)($%#

The night ended with the strangest turn of events. Jess was _not_ Sam's first kiss of the new year. She was going to be, but as it turns out, the whole night Lucifer and Gabriel schemed to steal him and kiss him at the same time just because they were drunk and assholes. Jess was kind of sad but she was too busy laughing at his horrified face to think much of it. Dean was pissed that he missed it because his attention was focused solely on Castiel.

Through out the whole night Jess only had one thing to drink, so Castiel had one drink. They were the most qualified people to drive home, yet they had to argue with Dean that he couldn't drive "baby" home.

"Cass, YOU should derive... Hah, no. thats not the word." Gabriel slurred and Castiel turned to Jess.

"Jess, I believe you need to drive." He said with his voice slightly strained. He was getting anxious just thinking about driving.

"Are you okay?" She asked and touched his arm. He shook his head.

"I don't drive." He said quickly and she looked confused, but nodded regardless. "Listen, Dean." He grabbed Dean by the shoulders to get him to pay attention. "I know you want to drive baby, but we'll pick her up when you're not hammered." Dean made an unintelligible comment and wound up half asleep anyway so it wasn't hard to convince him.

*^)%($)

After Castiel got Dean tucked into bed and put a cup of water and some pills next to the bed for Dean's impending hangover tomorrow, he laid down next to Dean who was pretty much drooling all over himself. It was pretty gross, but Castiel loved Dean so much he didn't think much of it.

"Goodnight Dean." Castiel kissed Dean's head and was surprised when Dean wrapped his arms and legs around Castiel tightly and whispered,

"I'm a koala!" It was then that Castiel knew... it was going to be a _long _night.

*)%$#_($

It was a very bad wake-up situation. The worst Castiel had ever been in. Dean too, probably.

"What the _hell_, Dean?!" It was said so loud that half drunk, asleep Dean jolted from his bed. "You didn't tell me you were moved. I had to find out from Rufus at the shop. Do you know how embarrassing that is? And now you're here naked with some guy, Dean. I didn't even know you were gay!" This man rambled for a while and Dean just stared at him like he saw a ghost.

"Are you even listening to me?!" He snapped and Dean nodded slowly.

"Dad, why are you here?" He asked and his father scoffed.

"I wanted to see my son, is that such a bad thing? I already saw Sam. He's upstairs with that lovely girl Jessica." Castiel had never felt so awkward in his life. And that was impressive in it's own right. "Are you at least going to introduce me to the boy!?"

"Oh. Yeah, dad. This is my friend Castiel." Castiel slowly turned to look at Dean. _Friend?_

* * *

Christmas, new years, John. The works in this chapter, folks. I can't wait to hear from you guys again. I'll be waiting patiently.

Please review. I have a 102 fever and I'm lonely :(


	11. Chapter 11

Sorry guys. I was a lot sicker than I thought I was. Hospital visit. Didn't eat or drink for two days. It was awful. I was so dehydrated I didn't have anything lubricating my eyelids.

Anyway, I'm (better?) now.

Thank you chillywinterbreeze, SilentHowler and Guest!

* * *

Chapter Eleven:

The morning was very awkward. More awkward than Castiel. Or maybe Castiel being there just made it more awkward. All he knew was Sam, Jess, Dean, John and him were sitting around their didn't room table with John staring at Castiel in the utmost confusion. He didn't understand why Castiel was in his son's bed. Last he checked, Dean was straight. If anything, Sam was the gay one, look at his hair, dear lord.

"Dad, I can explain-"

"You're having sex with a man." John cut in and Castiel awkwardly shuffled his feet.

"I'm a virgin." He said quietly and that confused John even more.

"So you guys aren't having sex? You're really just friends?" Dean looked like he was about to say yes but he stared at the look on Castiel's face and took a deep breath and looked at his father.

"We aren't having sex. But he is my boyfriend." Dean said and John leaned back in his chair like someone just punched him in the stomach.

"You're gay?" This is one of those times when Castiel should learn to stay quiet.

"Actually, if you want to get technical, Dean doesn't have to be gay. He could be bi, pansexual-"

"Cass, stop talking." Dean said and Castiel pressed his lips together and nodded. "Listen dad, I don't really like guys." Castiel was completely lost. "I do love women... but I also really love Cass. It's not about his gender, I just love him." Castiel was smiling to himself and looking down at the table.

John stared at Dean and looked back to Castiel. Castiel's hair was messy, he had a 5 o'clock shadow, dimples, and the brightest blue eyes John had ever seen. He didn't like that Dean was with a guy. He really didn't like it. But in a way, he saw that despite Castiel being a man, he did have girlish features. That's got to count for something. And he was so damn small. He was swimming in the shirt and sweatpants he wore.

"Listen dad, I really hope you can look passed this. Maybe even come over for dinner with us, we'd love to have you." Sam interrupted the silence and John looked at him. "Castiel is really a great guy and you'd like him. You just have to give him a chance." John waited a minute before standing up.

"I need to clear my head. I'll call you, Dean. Bye everyone." He walked out of the apartment. Castiel was now sitting in his chair with his knees up and hugging them, leaning on them.

"That went well." Dean looked at him confused but turned back around and sighed loudly.

%()(^_%

A few days later, something hit Dean. Castiel didn't know what, but Dean just was so sick. He had a slight fever, he was shaking, occasionally throwing up. He just didn't look well.

Dean didn't realize that he was never really babied when he was sick until he was with Castiel. He didn't even realize Castiel was so... motherly. He called out of work and ran around trying to help Dean with whatever he could do. But the hardest thing, was getting Dean to eat something. He didn't want anything.

"I'm going to make you what my mother usually made me." Castiel said as he pulled out a big bottle of ginger ale and poured it in a cup and placed it on the nightstand. He took Dean's temperature before Dean drank it and pursed his lips. "It went up a bit."

Castiel grabbed his pillows and let them prop Dean up and pulled his TV from the closet. They never really had the time to bring it out, but Castiel hooked everything up and let Dean pick whatever movie he wanted. When Dean decided on Star Wars, a part of Castiel wanted to roll his eyes but Dean was sick so he made the rules.

He handed Dean the remote and wondered upstairs to make Dean some food.

When he was done, he walked downstairs and Dean noticed him with the tray of food and groaned.

"I'm not hungry." He whined and Castiel put the tray in front of him.

"Then take your time. We have cream of broccoli and tuna on some toast. I also brought you some water in case you'd prefer that to the soda."Dean looked up at Castiel and sighed.

"My stomach hurts though." Castiel nodded and sat on the bed and grabbed the spoon and dipped it in the soup.

"What I do is I dip my spoon in and I lick it. This way I'm not eating too much. But it's still something." Dean grabbed the spoon and licked it, finding he didn't hate cream of broccoli as much as he thought he did.

*)$(#()

It wasn't long before Dean was passed out, most of his food gone, not quite all of it. Castiel cleaned everything up and shut the TV off.

When he was upstairs in the library he saw Sam walk in and pause when he saw Castiel.

"Hello, Sam." Castiel said briefly as he skimmed his book.

"Hey, Cass. How is Dean feeling?" Sam asked with concern clearly evident in his voice.

"He's... better I think. His fever went down. He's sleeping right now." Sam nodded and sat down in one of the chairs.

"Listen, Cass. Um... Well, I don't know if Dean told you..." Sam rubbed the back of his neck and Castiel straightened up in his chair and stared at Sam intently. "Dad called and he wants to come over for dinner but I told him that we didn't know yet. I just wanted to ask you first. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable." Sam explained and Castiel's face softened. He didn't realize that Sam paid so much attention to his feelings. It was nice to be looked after.

"He is yours and Dean's father. I wouldn't want to keep him from seeing you guys. Please, invite him over for whenever is easy for you. I will help make dinner." A smile broke across Sam's face and he patted Castiel on the arm.

"Thanks man. I'm sure it'll mean a lot to Dean."

Castiel nodded and Sam left the room. Now Castiel had a different problem. He placed his book back on the shelf and searched for the cook books.

*)(%)(*$

"Cass, you sure you're okay with this?" Castiel nodded and put Dean's dinner in front of him. Dean was feeling well enough to eat at the table, finally. Castiel kept cleaning crumbs from the sheets and it drove him crazy.

"Of course." Castiel sat down across from Jess and Jess smiled at everyone.

"This is exciting. We should have a _family_ dinner just to get it out of the way. Then all of our families will know each other!" Jess sounded so excited and Castiel stopped mid bite of his food to stare at her.

"Yeah! Then my dad can meet your parents." Sam shared the enthusiasm and Castiel turned to look at Dean.

"I have to... invite my family?" He asked and Dean shrugged.

"You realize that's mostly Lucifer, right?" Sam's smile faded and he looked at his food and started eating.

"What about your parents?" Dean asked and Castiel shrugged. "What do you mean?"

"Well... I don't know where my father is and I don't have a mother." He said simply and everyone looked at him, and Jess damn near cried.

"What do you mean you don't know where your father is? And how do you not have a mother?"

"I don't know. My father disappeared when I was younger. My siblings raised me. And I never knew a woman to be my mother... Well, when I was younger I used to call my sister, mom. It made people look at he weird because she's only six years older than me."

Jess got out of her chair and hugged Castiel. He sat in the seat, confused by the hug, but also eased by it. Not many people hugged him.

"Cass, I'm so sorry." Castiel stared at her with his eyebrows pushed together in confusion.

"Why are you sorry?" He asked and she looked down at him with a frown.

"That's just sad." Castiel shrugged. "Why don't you invite your siblings then?"

"Um... I don't know if they will come but I can ask." She nodded with a smile and sat back down.

"Tell us about them. How many siblings do you have?"

"I have Lucifer, you met him. Michael and Anael... Most people call her Anna. I couldn't even tell you the last time I talked to them though. The only one I talk to is Lucifer and that's because he's here."

"Well, I would love to meet your other brother and sister." Dean said with a smile and Castiel nodded, having an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach and he didn't know why.

)%*$)*)

"Hello?" Castiel felt like his heart stopped. He hadn't heard Anael's voice in so long, it was kind of a shock to hear. "Castiel? Is that you, sweetheart?"

"Y-yes." Castiel coughed out. "Yes, Anael, It's me."

"Oh, I haven't heard from you in forever! How are you? Are you okay? Is there something wrong?" Castiel frowned at the questions. He hadn't spoken to her in so long she assumed when he did call it was because something was bothering him.

"No. Um. This is kind of weird to say. Well, first I have a new apartment. I live with three other people. Sam, Jess and my boyfriend Dean-"

"OH MY GOODNESS! CASTIEL!" Castiel winced away from the phone briefly. "You got a _boyfriend_ and you didn't tell me?!" Castiel felt bad about it but he didn't really like disclosing information. "Please tell me Lucifer didn't find out before me..." Castiel said nothing and Anael groaned. "Come ooooon... Ugh. Anyway, what is he like? Is he cute?"

"Why would I say no to that question?" Anael giggled.

"True enough. So what were you calling about?"

"Well... I guess we're having a parents dinner and they told me to invite mine..." Castiel left the sentence hanging, now feeling really awkward. Anael didn't say something for a couple seconds and he heard her breath heavily.

"Castiel, I'm sorry. I'm sorry you called me for your parents dinner. You should have been able to call our parents. But I truly am honored. When is it?" Her voice continued to stay soft. Castiel was put out that he upset her.

"It's next week on Thursday."

"I will be there. And Castiel, thank you for inviting me. I can't wait to see you."

"I can't wait to see you either." Castiel said and for a minute, he realized that he did truly mean it. He couldn't wait to see his older sister. He hadn't seen her in a while.

)%*$#(

"Castiel?" The voice on the other line was strong, authoritative, and belonged to Michael. "Are you well?"

"Yes, Michael. I was wondering... Well, we're having a family dinner... wait. You don't know who _we_ is. Um, well, I live with Sam, Jess and Dean. And we're having our parents over... Not really parents since I invited you and Anael, oh and Dean is my boyfriend. You want to come?" The sentence was all over the place and it took Michael a second to collect the information and put it in order.

"So you live with a Sam, Jess and your boyfriend Dean and you're having families over and you want Anael and I to come?" That sentence was much shorter and significantly less awkward.

"Yes."

"Castiel, I would love to go. It all depends on the day and time though because I'm really busy. But I will do my best to be there."

"Thursday at five." Castiel answered quickly.

"You were born on Thursday." Michael said, smiling. Castiel nodded. Nearly everytime he mentioned Thursday it became "you were named by the angel of thursday" and "you were born on thursday" it was becoming annoying.

"I am aware." Castiel said stoically.

"I'll call you back a little later on in the week and I'll let you know if I can make it, alright? Again, thanks for inviting me Castiel. It's nice to hear from you.. Wait is Lucifer going to be there?"

"I didn't invite him, no."

"Okay. Good." Castiel frowned. Lucifer and Michael weren't getting along again. They did make up and break ups more than anyone he's ever met. They weren't even dating. They argued like an old married couple and half the time they hated each other.

Despite that he was excited he had people coming for the family dinner. He wanted to spend time with family. It would be nice to meet Jess' family and maybe Dean's father would like him.

* * *

I'm going to go take a nap now... Review if you want.. I guess.


	12. Chapter 12

Sorry my lovelies. I was sick and dying. And then fanfiction wouldn't load for a while... Anyway, here's the next chapter.

Thank you cherrytops82, chillywinterbreeze, SilentHowler and pryde23 for your support on last chapter.

This chapter is the dinner, a fight and the family dinner.

* * *

Chapter Twelve:

The preparations that they all had made for the big dinner was pretty extreme. Even Dean found himself cleaning odd parts of the apartment. (His dad could notice that the ceiling in one spot is tinged yellow and ruin his day, maybe. And chaos would erupt and Dean would be taken from Castiel because he couldn't properly clean his ceiling.)

Castiel still didn't find the perfect recipe, Sam was currently sick (he blamed Dean) and Jess finally found a job so she was out most of the time.

"Hey angel, can you pass me that stuff you usually use in the bathroom?" Dean asked from the ladder and Castiel walked over and urged Dean to get down. He finally did, somewhat huffy. "What? I'm trying to clean."

"I know and I admire the great lengths you've gone to, making sure that the house looks respectable. However, I would really like some time with you. You've been cleaning, and at work and I've been reading and at work. Can I please spend some time with you?" Dean's annoyed look quickly vanished and he gave Castiel a sickly sweet smile and kissed him lightly and cupped his cheek.

"Of course, angel. I'm sorry. I'm totally freaked right now. I want everyone to like each other. We're a group, ya' know? We need to stay one." Castiel nodded, his eyes appraising Dean as if he were made of gold.

"I understand Dean. I do. And this dinner will be as painless as we can make it.. But for now, let's go." Dean sent Castiel a wink.

"Oh, now you're getting frisky. I like it when you take charge." Castiel rolled his eyes.

)*^%)($

"No... I think it's that way." Castiel pointed and Dean groaned. They've been in the car, lost for the better part of 40 minutes. He shouldn't have trusted Castiel with figuring out where they were going. "You know what? Dean just park in this lot, I want to stretch my legs."

Dean's stomach growled and he almost followed. But he parked the car and he was starving. Castiel quickly exited the vehicle and he got out too.

"Where are you going?" Dean asked and Castiel shrugged.

"Might as well walk for a minute. I used to live down here, I want to see if there's still this chocolate store I was very fond of." Dean perked up slightly at the promise of chocolate and walked by Castiel's side. They walked for a couple minutes and Dean's stomach growled again and Dean started whining.

"Can we go-" Before he could finish, Castiel shoved him into a door. When Dean looked around he saw a very fancy restaurant. "This place is nice." He mused and they walked over to the line. That's when Dean overheard the wait time was nearly two hours. "Let's go, I'm not waiting..." Dean paused as Castiel walked over to the hostess stand.

"Two for Nocak, Castiel." He stated formally and she scanned the list and smiled.

"Yup, come on. Right this way." Dean couldn't help the blush from crawling to his face. He just gawked at the back of Castiel as the hostess led them to their table. When they took their seats, Castiel started scanning the menu and Dean still couldn't believe it.

"Are you well?" Castiel asked with concern after finally looking at Dean's face.

"You... surprised me. You... made reservations?" He didn't even know Castiel knew how to do that sort of thing.

"Yes. I rather like this place... And um..." Castiel turned pinkish and scratched his neck. "It's our.. uh.. half year mark." Dean smiled widely.

"I can't believe you. You're such a sap." Dean pat Castiel on the arm and Castiel glared at him. "Thank you, Cas. This is awesome. No one's ever taken me out to a fancy restaurant... And I don't think I've ever made reservations for anything ever. So that's fun."

"No one's been with me. Especially for this long. Thank you." The look in Castiel's eyes showed that he was really sincere. Like Dean needed to be thanked for loving him. And that put a slight damper on Dean's mood. He clutched Castiel's hand in his own.

"Cass, man... I love you, okay? And I've definitely had a thing for you since the second I saw you, so don't think you aren't awesome. I'm just the only one to admit you're awesome. Other people were probably intimidated by it. Lucky me, you're here with me and not with them. Sucks for you. You're stuck with me." Dean winked and Castiel tilted his head in confusion.

"I am not stuck with you. I willingly stay with you and I will for as long as you'll let me."

"I don't plan on letting go of you easily." Dean said seriously and then gave Castiel a soft smile.

"I will have to be taken away kicking and screaming." Dean loved when Castiel would tease him like that.

"Kinky."

*)%^()#$

This was it. He found it. The perfect family dinner. It took days but Castiel planned on getting started right away. Dinner was tomorrow and he needed to make sure he had his mise en place. But first he had to talk to Dean.

Dean had been in this weird state today. He seemed nervous for tomorrow but Castiel had no idea why. It didn't occur to him that Dean was waiting on John's verdict for if he approved of Castiel or not. So it didn't bother him. And if he knew, Castiel wouldn't be bothered anyway. He was very happy where he was and Dean assured him he wasn't going anywhere.

"Dean." Castiel poked his head from the library to the living room. Dean looked over. He was currently dusting the entertainment center.

"Yes?" He was on edge. Castiel could tell and it made him nervous.

"I found the recipe. I'm going to make a cured ham. And then for the sides..." Castiel trailed off when he saw that strange look in Dean's eye. Why was he mad? "Are you okay, Dean?"

"Are you kidding me?" He scowled. Castiel took a subtle step backwards.

"No..?"

"My dad _hates_ cured ham. Are you TRYING to piss him off? Are you serious right now, Cass? Need I remind you? I _already_ told you this. Don't be fucking stupid. I don't need to deal with this right now." Dean said harshly and Castiel slumped. He looked at Dean with nothing in mind to say. Dean had never told him that his father didn't like cured ham. How was he supposed to know? Despite that, Castiel looked at his feet and offered an apology.

"I am sorry. I wasn't thinking. I'll keep looking for something." He said quietly.

"Yeah. And don't fucking waste my time again, okay? Thanks." The scathing tone Dean had made Castiel close the door between them. He sat down on the chair and stared at the floor. He didn't understand. He also had no idea why it made him feel so guilty.

*)^%($

"Dinner smells fantastic, sweetie!" Jess called out to Castiel as she walked in the door. So far she was the only one home besides Castiel. They had another two hours until the family started arriving. Dean and Sam would be home shortly to shower and shave. Castiel was already nice and clean, close shave which Jess didn't think she ever saw. His hair was brushed, which was odd since it was usually all over god's creation. "you okay?" She touched his arm and he flinched away from her.

"Sorry... I wasn't.. paying attention. Hello, Jess." He nodded at her and she frowned and narrowed her eyes. "Yes?"

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing." Castiel said slowly and turned away and continued cutting up vegetables.

"Are you nervous? It's okay. I am. We're all going to be under one roof. That's going to be crazy." Castiel made a noise insisting he listened to her comment but stayed stoic. "Okay... Well you better get out of your head, and we're going to talk before Sam and Dean get back. But I have to get ready." She walked away and even the part of Castiel that felt thankful that he had such a sweet friend like Jess, was beaten down by the fact that Dean hadn't talked to him since he yelled at him. Castiel sighed, with an ache in his heart.

*)^%($()

"What are you making in here?" Sam asked from the doorway. By the sound of it, Dean was with him. "Because it smells fantastic."

"Chicken parm." Castiel said, rather quietly. "With garlic bread, linguine, and a salad."

"Wow Cass. You outdid yourself. It smells great." When Castiel stared at Sam, and Sam smiled that big smile, he could've cried. He didn't. But he felt like it. Sam was in here complimenting him and Dean still didn't say hello. "You good?"

"Yes. Just... nervous." Castiel said with a strange sense of certainty.

"No big deal. Everything will be great." Dean walked in and Castiel's heart thudded. It was a weird combination of him wanting to ignore Dean and have Dean apologize for being rude, and him begging Dean to not be mad at him anymore. Castiel chose to stay silent.

"You make dessert?" Dean asked and Castiel gave him a curt nod. "What did you make?"

"Apple and Pecan pie." Castiel said quietly and noticed the grin on Dean's face from his peripherals.

"Awesome, I lucked out, huh?" Dean kissed Castiel's cheek, it felt like electricity shot through his body from the kiss and his mind, body, everything urged him to be close to Dean. Everything was forgotten. He just wanted Dean to kiss him again.

"I guess so." Castiel sent him a shy smile and met with Dean's gorgeous green eyes. He could stare at them all day.

"I'm going to go shower. You look good by the way." Dean raised his eyebrow suggestively and kissed Castiel quickly. "Be right back."

Castiel's mood was significantly better from then.

*)^%(

"Aw, Castiel. Your apartment is so cute!" Anael cooed and attacked Castiel in a crushing hug. "It's been so long since I've seen you!" Castiel looked at Michael who was awkwardly standing behind her. He gave a wave and Castiel waved back as Anael continued crushing his life force. "Okay! So, where is the boyfriend?" She asked as Sam walked into the room. "Oh he's so cute!" Castiel turned around and his face turned red.

"No. No. That's _Sam_." Castiel said like it meant something to her. "That's Dean's brother. He's dating Jess. Dean is still downstairs." Anael smiled apologetically at Sam like she was saying 'sorry, didn't mean to think you were gay.'

Jess' parents showed up before Dean came upstairs and now the living room was pretty noisy. Castiel was getting impatient. He wanted Dean to meet his family.

"I heard there was a family party and _I_ was not invited. I am hurt." By the look on Michael's face, that could only be one person.

"Lucifer." Michael gritted his teeth and turned around to glare at him. Castiel looked distressed. Today was already going downhill.

"Guys. Not right now." Anael said with a glare. Lucifer chose to look by Michael and grin deviously and Sam looked up at the same time, looking more distressed than Castiel.

"Seriously?" He whined and Lucifer walked over to Sam as he groaned, very childishly, in front of Jess' parents. Luckily they just seemed amused.

"Sorry guys. I'm here." Dean announced from the doorway to the basement and Anael watched Castiel perk up at the sound of Dean's voice. Castiel waved Dean over and Dean complied.

"This is my sister, Anael and this is my brother, Michael." Castiel said sounding oddly proud.

"Nice to meet you." Dean put on one of his best smiles and Castiel could tell that Anael fell for it. She seemed flustered. Michael really didn't say much, his mood dampened by the fact that Lucifer showed up. But honestly, he expected as much.

"Dad!" Sam called out and Dean's eyes darted to the door. He looked desperate.

John walked in and greeted everyone with a smile. Castiel couldn't tell why Dean was so nervous. His father seemed pleasant enough. The part that had Castiel nervous was if everyone was going to enjoy dinner. He worked really hard on it. And now he noticed that after all the table setting, they were now one short thanks to a certain devil.

()%(^)*

"My compliments to the chef!" Jess' mom said happily. "It looks fantastic." It _should _look perfect. Castiel plated them excellently.

"Thank you." Castiel nodded his head in her direction.

"Aww, Cassie. You're the housewife? That's adorable." Lucifer teased and Castiel glared at him.

"I swear to god, Lucifer. If you don't shut up." Michael threatened and Anael sighed.

"Why don't you make me, daddy's boy?" Lucifer scowled and Castiel sent Dean a sad look and Dean just chuckled quietly as he shoved more food in his mouth. Lucifer and Michael continued to argue and everyone else attempted to ignore them.

"So, Dean. What do you do for a living?" Anael asked with a smile. She just really wanted to know more about this really cute stranger (even though it's her brother's boyfriend, it's okay to look... right?)

"I'm a mechanic." Dean said after (thankfully) swallowing before speaking. "What do you do?"

"I'm a nurse." Dean nodded as to say 'cool' but his mouth was full again.

"What about you, Michael? What do you do?" Dean asked and Michael stopped fighting long enough to answer.

"I'm a lawyer." He said stiffly and continued glaring at Lucifer.

"A lawyer? No way. That's what I'm going to be. I'm still interning at this place though." Sam said excitedly and Michael smiled at him, which pissed off Lucifer to no end.

"Really? How long are you going to be interning, do you know?"

"Um.. I think for another year or so. It's kind of hard to get out there, you know?" Michael nodded and pulled out his wallet and handed Sam a business card.

"This is my firm and my number. Why don't you give me a call. We can chat and I'm _sure_ I can find you a job better than an intern." Sam couldn't smile any wider and Lucifer didn't think he could glare harder.

"Are you serious? That's awesome. Thank you so much." Sam graciously accepted the card and held it like it was valuable.

"You're very welcome, Sam. A friend of Castiel's is a friend of mine, right?" Castiel gave him a weak smile, still slightly put off that he was fighting with Lucifer for a solid ten minutes.

Sam rose to take the plates and Jess followed. Dean was still eating so he didn't move and Castiel was in an awkward transition where he wanted to help clear the table but he was scared to move because he didn't think Michael and Lucifer would be kept at bay. Jess shook her head at him and mouthed 'you cooked' and Castiel sat back down and nervously looked at his brothers. Dean also looked at Castiel's face and the arguing men at the end of the table and quickly stood up.

"So who wants some pie?" He excused himself to the kitchen and Castiel sighed and put his head in his hand and watched his brothers fight.

* * *

I'm beginning to run low on cute ideas for them to bond with. So maybe the fighting starts sooner than later. I don't know.

Review if you want.


	13. Chapter 13

I'm feeling slightly better now. I'm juicing currently. And I have such a bad headache... Ugh.

Anyway, Thank you to the only person that reviewed last chapter, chillywinterbreeze.

And by the way I'm working on a new story. I wrote a couple of pages. It's a highschool AU but not the ones where Castiel is bullied for being gay because I feel like that's every Destiel HS AU fic I read.

Speaking of, please recommend some fics for me! I love reading. And don't recommend Twist and Shout. I still cry about that one.

* * *

Chapter Thirteen:

"Angel." Castiel heard a voice whisper. He was sleeping, he was tired. He groaned. "Angel. Wake up."

There was a few moments of him murmuring unintelligible words until he willed himself to open his eyes. They burned and teared up. He was so tired.

"Dean?" His voice croaked and he saw Dean's smile in the shadows of the room. "Why are you waking me up?" His voice kept cracking.

"Come on, Cas. You can sleep in the car." He promised and led Castiel out of the bed. Castiel let Dean guide him with no questions asked. He walked with Dean out of the apartment and down the stairs to the car. When Dean opened the door, Castiel climbed in and was met with pillows and blankets. Dean closed the door behind him and got in on the other side.

It was cold outside and the car hadn't been warming up for very long. Dean tried. He wrapped Castiel in more blankets and kissed his hand, loving the sleepy look on Castiel's face.

"Go to sleep." He said quietly. "Go to sleep, Angel. It's okay." Castiel nodded slowly and curled up in a ball with his pillows and blankets and found sleep quite quickly.

*)^%(

"Cas." Castiel felt his arm being shaken. He opened one eye, looking at Dean. For a minute he forgot where he was and he wondered why he was in Dean's car. "Good morning, sleepy-head. I got you coffee and an apple cider donut." Dean smiled at him and Castiel stretched and sat up correctly in the seat, taking the coffee and donut from Dean, still slowly waking up.

"Where are we?" He asked in a raspy voice.

"You'll find out soon enough." Dean took a sip from his coffee and started the car up again. Castiel sunk into his seat, wrapping himself up in his blanket again and leaning his head on the window, tiredly watching Dean drive with a smile.

"I love you." It came out a lot quieter than he intended but Dean still heard him and reached his arm over and grabbed Castiel's hand.

"Love you forever." Castiel raised an eyebrow.

"Like you foralways." He added and Dean smiled.

"As long as I'm living my angel you'll be." Castiel chuckled softly and shook his head and bit his donut.

"I can't believe you know that book." Dean made a poor effort to tickle Castiel in playful anger.

"Hey, I had a childhood too." He argued and Castiel just smiled at him.

"And it's _as long as I'm living my __**baby**__ you'll be_." He corrected and Dean rolled his eyes and tickled Castiel again who twitched at Dean's touch.

"Well I don't call you _baby_ I call you _angel_. And you'll be my angel for as long as I live." Castiel held Dean's hand, stopping it from tickling him and gave his hand a squeeze.

*^)%($_

The third time Castiel woke up, they were parked on a cliff. He saw mountains in the distance and in the valley everything was beautiful, but dormant. It was a breathtaking view, especially as the sun was rising and hues of orange, yellow and pink spread through the clouds. Castiel sat in stunned silence as Dean had his arm wrapped around him.

"Why are we here?" Castiel whispered and Dean kissed his forehead.

"Oh, Angel. There's an eclipse in a few hours. I wanted you to get a nice seat." Dean ruffled Castiel's hair and Castiel stared up at Dean like he always did. Like Dean was the only person he saw. "And plus, we're really high up so I figured you'd like being close to home. Heaven." Dean gave Castiel a cheesy smile and Castiel shook his head, soft smile gracing his lips.

"Love you." Dean said nothing, only kissed him.

They watched the sun rise and saw how the valley below seemed to come to life. They sat there quietly for a while just admiring nature outside. It was one of the most relaxing things Castiel ever did. He was glad that Dean was there with him.

"Come on." Dean jumped out of the car and Castiel saw that Dean was also in his pajamas. Dark blue sweatpants, a long sleeved pajama shirt and his leather jacket. So Castiel didn't feel so silly in his light blue plaid pants, a really ugly grandpa sweater and his trench coat. Neither of them matched but up there on that cliff, it didn't matter.

Castiel climbed out of the car as Dean leaned in the back seat gathering items. He spread a blanket out in front of the car and grabbed even more blankets, even some pillows and a basket. Castiel joined him on the blanket and Dean wrapped them both up. Castiel looked at Dean's green eyes. Just as beautiful as the day they met. He knew that Dean wouldn't play a joke on him. He should have realized sooner. Then maybe they'd have a couple more days together. It didn't matter that they were there, together. Castiel wanted more. He wished he met Dean when he was young and was Dean's first throughout life.

He sat there in realization that he'd never be Dean's first while Dean was his first everything. And he knew it shouldn't bother him. But it did. It bothered him as they sat on top of the world together and admired the view. It bothered him as they ate the sandwiches Dean made for them. And it even bothered him as Dean cupped his face and kissed him all over.

*)%($^

The eclipse was beautiful. But he expected it to be. He enjoyed the day with Dean. They spent pretty much the whole day in their pajamas over looking the world together. And Castiel was still bothered.

But he decided to ignore the growing, gnawing feeling in his stomach and his heart. Jealousy wasn't the way to go, especially since Dean was his now and that's all that _should_ matter.

But it didn't.

"Hey angel, you hungry?" Dean asked as they were driving home. He didn't know how far away from home they were, but they'd already been in the car for two hours.

"Yeah." Castiel said quietly and Dean gripped his hand tightly.

"Are you okay, Cass? You're really quiet." Dean acknowledged and Castiel shrugged. How was he to say that something as stupid as he was with someone before Castiel even knew who he was bothered him as much as it did.

"I'm okay. Thank you for today, Dean. It was exceptional." Dean rubbed his thumb over Castiel's hand.

"I wanted it to be. For you. Now you cheer your ass up because we're going inside to eat." Dean gave a wolfish grin and Castiel just stared at him in slight horror.

"We're in our pajamas, Dean." He deadpanned and Dean shrugged with a smirk.

"We're in our pajamas, _together_, Cass." He retorted and Castiel sighed and stared at the window.

&)^*%)^

Despite not wanting to go into the diner, Castiel had a swell time. Dean fed him food from his fork, flicked other stuff at him. They fought over the last piece of bread, only to have their giggling waitress give them more bread. Dean stole most of Castiel's fries and Castiel stole most of Dean's onion rings and only after they ate did they come to the conclusion they should've switched to begin with.

And Dean was giddy when he ordered a _large _vanilla milkshake with _two_ straws. He seemed so proud of himself.

So when the huge cup filled with ice cream substance, an amount of whipped cream that should be illegal and two cherries on top, he bounced in his seat.

Castiel didn't notice that Dean asked the waitress to take a picture of them drinking the shake together. But when Dean had the picture on his phone, he practically glowed.

)%^*)#

Valentine's day was a celebration day that Dean and Castiel never really cared about. But the fact that they were sharing that day together made them go crazy.

Castiel couldn't count how much money he'd already spent on chocolate. He knew Dean liked chocolate so now Dean had a whole bag of it.

Dean knew Castiel didn't have much of a sweet tooth so Castiel had a bag of Cheez-its. They insisted that neither of them wanted anything so naturally both of them got the other something.

Castiel got Dean a home beer tap system (an odd thing for valentine's day but Dean didn't like girly things so why not?). And Dean got Castiel a promise ring. It was the first time he'd ever bought jewelry for anyone. He didn't know if Castiel would like it, so he was kind of scared for that but he had it engraved. "As long as I'm living my angel you'll be" was written in script along the outside of the white-gold ring.

With a sense of nervousness, both of them were equally excited to show the other their gift.

They decided to eat in so they didn't have to deal with going out on Valentine's day which is just an awful idea anyway. And plus, Castiel would rather make Dean a home made meal for their special day than go out.

Luckily, Sam and Jess felt differently so they were going out. Castiel and Dean had the house to themselves.

On Valentine's day, Castiel was the first to get home from work. He took that time to set up the downstairs with a small table and two chairs. Luckily there was a storage closet in their room which was where they kept all of the spare things anyway.

He put a table cloth on it and a candle in the middle. He set the table with napkins, silverware, and cups, leaving the plates upstairs.

When he got himself dressed and ready he walked upstairs and bumped into Jess as she came home.

"Cass! You look so handsome!" She hugged him, he awkwardly returned the hug. "You excited for Valentines day?"

"I suppose I'm more excited for it than I've ever been." He admitted truthfully.

"That's great. I'm excited to hear about your Valentine's day but right now I only have two hours to get ready." She ran into her room and Castiel shook his head at her. Women.

*)^(%$

Dean got home around six, apologizing. He said he was stuck late working on a car, which was a lie. He was picking up the ring because the damn ring maker thought Valentine's Day was the day to finish the ring. Castiel shrugged, not really affected by it much. He just had more time to cook which was fine.

"I picked out your clothes and can you take a shower upstairs tonight?" Dean seemed confused. "Don't over think. You'll find out eventually." Dean nodded and kissed Castiel's cheek.

"Alright Cass. I'll be back then."

When Dean came out of the bathroom, cleaned and shaven, he couldn't help but smell the deliciousness that was Castiel's cooking and sent a silent thank you to whomever destined it to be that Castiel could cook. Because Dean could cook... party food like burgers.

The kitchen was cleaned which confused Dean and so was the dinning room. He had no idea why the house smelled so good when he couldn't find food anywhere.

"Dean!" Castiel called from downstairs and Dean sighed. He hoped he didn't have to wait too long for food. He was so hungry.

Dean walked downstairs and saw the tiny table, set up all nice with a bottle of wine, two cups and whatever food Castiel made. Dean was more than excited.

"Time to eat." Dean walked briskly over to Castiel and kissed him, with so much force he thought they were going to fall over.

"Love you forever." He whispered, Castiel smiled.

"Like you foralways." He added and both of them sat down to eat.

Dean gushed about how he couldn't believe Castiel made Fillet mignon and shrimp scampi together and how dinner was awesome and Castiel basked in the compliments. They ate quietly for a while until Dean reached in his pocket and pulled out a small box and slid it over to Castiel.

"Happy Valentine's day, angel." He said softly and Castiel slowly grabbed the box. He'd never seen such a tiny box for a present. He didn't know what it could be. A memory card? Castiel opened the box and looked at it, like he was analyzing it. He pulled out the ring and squinted so he could see the inscripture. He looked at Dean. "Do you like it?"

"I..." Castiel looked confused. "A ring?"

"It's a promise ring." Dean confirmed, now getting slightly nervous.

"What is a promise ring?" Castiel asked and Dean was surprised to find that Castiel had no idea.

"It means that I promise to annoy the shit out of you for the rest of our pathetic lives." Dean grinned and Castiel smiled at him. It sounded like a great plan.

* * *

Review and tell me if you liked this chapter.

Also review and tell me if you'd be interested in the other Destiel fic I'm writing.


	14. Chapter 14

So I think either when I'm wrapping this story up or after I finished I'll start posting the other one. This way I don't get too overwhelmed with work and wanting to update. Now I'm just writing that one when I have nothing else to do. I can't wait to post it though!

Thank you chillywinterbreeze, SilentHowler and cherrytops82 for reviewing! Reviews make my shitty day better (I work two jobs four days a week and only get one day off so reviews help fuel me.)

* * *

Chapter Fourteen:

"Wow, Dean." Sam sat back on the couch. "Are you serious? That's insane." Dean nodded in agreement. It had been one year. Him and Castiel.

"I know. Crazy, right? I never thought I'd be the one to settle down." Dean sat down on Castiel's reading chair. "With someone like Cass no less."

"Have you guys even... you know?" Sam blushed at the question, but he was always curious. That earned a sour look from Dean.

"I don't want to talk about it." He grumbled and pouted.

"I'll take that as a no. I'm impressed. How did you manage to stay with Cass for a whole year without sex? That's not like you." Sam teased and Dean sighed.

"Cass ain't ready. I honestly think that little sap is waiting till marriage or somethin." Dean leaned farther back in the chair. "Just my luck, huh?"

"So are you guys going to get married?" Sam asked curiously. "Has it crossed your mind?"

"Of course. I think Cass and I would be perfect together. Why not get married? I can't see him with anyone but me." Sam looked at Dean with a weird look. "What?"

"Say that again?"

"Cass and I would be perfect together." Dean repeated blankly.

"No. You can't see him with anyone but you?" Dean nodded. "That's a weird way to put it. Most people say the opposite."

"Well, can you?" Dean deadpanned and Sam paused and shrugged.

"You're right. I can't see him be weird and clingy with anyone but you."

"Weird and clingy? What do you mean?"

"You haven't noticed? It's been a year Dean." Dean glared at Sam, Sam raised his arms in defeat. "I'm just saying he does _anything_ you ask him to do. No questions asked."

"I know, isn't it great?" Dean practically giggled, Sam huffed.

"And you're always together. And he just looks at you like you're an important artifact."

"Have you seen me, Sam? I _am_ an important artifact. Just sayin'." Sam gave Dean a bitch face and Dean didn't retract his comment. "What's wrong with the guy bein' in love with me, Sammy?"

"Nothing. It's sweet. But I just think..." Sam stopped himself and Dean leaned forward in his chair.

"What, Sammy?" He narrowed his eyes and Sam shook his head. "What?"

"Ugh... I just think he's more into you than you are him. That's it. I said it." Dean shook his head.

"Not true. I totally dig Cass. I'm practically the freakin virgin Mary over here. Of course I have a thing for Cass." Dean snapped and Sam nodded.

"I know you love him. Maybe it's just in Cass' nature not to say no. But you ask him to do something, he does it. Sometimes he asks you to do something and you say no. I don't know, it's stupid." Dean didn't know what to say. He couldn't remember an example of what Sam was saying, but now he was damn pissed and ready to prove Sam wrong.

He was just as into Cass as Cass was him. Simple.

*)($(^%)

"Hey Angel. How was work?" Dean asked, leaning over the couch. Castiel sighed and pulled his coat off, he was covered in coffee. Dean laughed and had to force himself to stop because Castiel looked truly distraught. "Oh, Cass..." He stood up and took Castiel's coat from him and gave him a kiss. "My poor angel."

"It seems that Gabriel didn't know when coffee pots are hot, you can't get them cold instantly after or they explode." Castiel sighed and shook his head. "Or maybe he did and just hates me. I don't know."

"Come on. Why don't we get you cleaned up?" Castiel nodded slowly and followed Dean downstairs.

"Dean, I hate to ask, but do you mind figuring out what's for dinner. I'm really not in the mood to cook..." Castiel admitted quietly as he stripped off his clothes. Dean was really put out by that. It was Castiel's job to make dinner. That's what everyone was used to. Why was it suddenly his turn?

Dean went to object but thought of Sam earlier.

"Of course, angel." Castiel looked at Dean, rather surprised but the warm smile on his face was well worth it.

"Thank you." He said graciously and kissed Dean. "I really need to relax. Today sucked." And so Castiel vented about how stupid customers were and how he had never heard of an "iced cappuccino" but a customer wanted it and yelled at Castiel when he had no idea what they were talking about.

"Wow, people are stupid." Dean smiled, not knowing the difference between a cappuccino and a latte but wanting Castiel to have the satisfaction of venting anyway. "So you take your bath and I'm going to go make dinner. Love you."

"Forever." Castiel finished with a smile and Dean paused, looked at Castiel and grinned.

"Like you foralways." Dean kissed Castiel's hand. "As long as I'm living my angel you'll be. Now relax. I'll go do dinner."

Dean jogged up the stairs and saw Sam and Jess lounging on the couch just chatting.

"Hey Dean." Jess smiled. "Where is Cass?"

"Cass is relaxing. _I_ am making dinner." Dean said proudly and Jess and Sam shared an impressed nod and Dean strode into the kitchen.

)*^%(

"_I_ am ordering a pizza."

"Dean. What the hell is smoking in the kitchen?" Sam sighed and Dean ignored him and reached for the phone.

*^%)($

"I can't believe it." Castiel grinned and shook his head.

"What? I can be romantic." Dean wrapped his hands around Castiel. "Can't I, angel?"

"Yes. But you're too much." Castiel rubbed his fingertips on the hardcover copy of "Love You Forever" and when he opened it, he was even more surprised.

_Cass,_

_My angel, it's been like a year and shit. Wow. A year. Can you believe that? I've put up with your crap for an entire year. You should thank me, really. I am a saint._

_In all honesty, I'm glad I got to spend this year with you. And I'll let this book do the talking because we're going to have forever to love each other. And I will love you every day until and passed then._

_Love,_

_Dean_

"Thank you." Castiel hugged Dean extremely tightly. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome." Dean kissed Castiel's ear.

"Ow. That's loud." Castiel rubbed his ear and Dean frowned.

"No it's not." And then Castiel spent the next five minutes trying to kiss Dean's ear and Dean kept shoving him away because now he was scared.

When Castiel finally did it, Dean pissed and moaned and Castiel sat on Dean, victorious.

*^%)(%

"What the fuck are you drinking?" Dean asked Castiel, Jess and Sam. They all had really gross green drinks.

"Mean Green!" Jess said happily. "We're juicing!"

"Wanna join?" Sam asked with a smirk and Dean looked extremely grossed out and took a sip of his beer.

"No thanks. Fuckin' losers."

"Jerk."

"Bitch."

"Come on. Taste it. It isn't that bad." Castiel handed his shake to Dean who stared at it like it was going to eat him. "It's celery, green apple, kale, spinach, ginger, and lemon."

"That's freaking gross, man. Why are you doing it to yourself?" Dean grabbed the drink and sniffed it carefully.

"It's _healthy, _Dean." Sam pointed out simply and took another sip. "Plus it isn't bad." Dean took a sip and spit it out, and Castiel was unlucky enough to be standing in front of Dean. Sam and Jess covered their mouths and tried extremely hard not to laugh but Dean already toppled over.

"Oh my god! I'm _so_ sorry!" Castiel wiped his face calmly as Dean laughed so hard his face turned red.

"I can tell by how hard your laughing." Castiel said in a monotone and Jess and Sam started laughing too. "Thanks guys. Thanks." Castiel walked out of the room to wash his face... and change his clothes.

"No angel! I'm sorry! Come back!" Dean was on his knees reaching out for Castiel but he was still laughing pretty hard. Castiel kept walking.

*)^%(

"Ughhhhh I feel so sick.." Dean whined while they all sat on the couch for their late night TV show binge.

"Maybe if you juiced with us instead of eating that double bacon cheeseburger, you wouldn't feel like crap. We feel great." Sam said happily and Dean narrowed his eyes at his brother.

"Don't you ever say that. I _will_ disown you." Dean threatened and Castiel chuckled.

*^%)($%

A few weeks later, Dean was at the garage. He suddenly felt... weird. He couldn't put his finger on it. But something wasn't right.

He spent the rest of the day at work feeling like something was wrong.

He tried to text Castiel about it but Castiel was really busy at work and Dean could understand that. He was technically busy but he couldn't stop worrying. He worked through as much as he could and finally it was time to leave.

The ride home was oddly ominous. The skies were dark, he could smell the upcomming rain. It just wasn't a good day.

With his hands on his baby's steering wheel he took in a deep breath. Maybe Sam would know what to do? All he knew was thing gnawing feeling wasn't going away. He wanted to feel normal but all day was the same. He felt like something was missing. But for the life of him, he couldn't place it.

He got home and was smacked in the face with the smell of Castiel's cooking. He was grateful that dinner was almost done. It gave him something to be happy about. But when he saw the look on Sam's face he knew something was really off. And now that he thought about it... the smell in the kitchen was _really_ good. Too good for a normal night's dinner.

Jess also looked pretty down. She was curled up on Sam's lap and Sam seemed completely out of it. Dean hung up his coat and walked over to the couch.

"Sammy? What's wrong?" Sam stared at Dean and shook his head.

"Can we talk about this after dinner?" Sam asked quietly and Dean wanted to argue, but Jess gave him a pleading look so he nodded. He walked downstairs to get changed into his sweatpants. He hoped Sam's news wasn't horribly bad.

Maybe that's why he wanted to wait until later to tell him. Did he not want to upset Dean with the news? Dean's heart ached and he walked upstairs. Castiel was serving the food. His jaw was clenched, Dean noticed that right away. And his eyes reminded him of outside. Stormy.

"Cass, Angel. What's going on?" Dean asked and Castiel shook his head.

"I am not in the position to say." With that Castiel retreated back to the kitchen. Everyone sat at their normal places and pushed around their food on the plates for a while. Dean couldn't handle it anymore.

"Damn it, Sammy. What's wrong?" Sam and Jess shared a look and Jess nodded. Sam sighed.

"Dean... There really isn't an easy way to say this... But I got a call today... they wanted to tell me that... well... dad is dead. He died this morning. Heart attack." When Castiel saw the look on Dean's face, it broke his heart too.

* * *

And now we're at the twisting point in the story. I hope Dean and Castiel made an impression on your heart. It's all downhill from here!

Love you guys! Review and tell me you love me too :)

And I'm so excited for the last line in this story. It's literally the first line I wrote and I'm excited to use it. I don't know how many chapters I'm writing after this. Most of the story has been me just winging it.


	15. Chapter 15

Howdy howdy howdy.

Work sucked. Working out sucked. And being tired sucks. I hate being an adult :(

Anyway, this chapter is mixed emotions. You'll get a peek at what's more to come.

Thank you for reviewing chillywinterbreeze, silenthowler and cherrytops82

I don't know how soon this story is going to end. There's still a lot of abuse to encounter. And I CAN'T WAIT TO WRITE CASTIEL'S PART OF BEING A SHITTY BOYFRIEND OMFG

* * *

Chapter Fifteen:

There was no consoling Dean. And it wasn't like he cried and cried like a normal person coping. He shut off. Talking to him you'd be lucky to get a grunt in acknowledgment, let alone an actual coherent sentence.

It's been two weeks since they buried John and all Dean did was sit on the couch and stare at the television, but he wasn't paying attention to it. It was background noise, so he wouldn't go crazy in the quiet.

He took off work for a bit and now he was back. More than usual. Castiel was lucky to see him before dinner. Mostly he saw him at 9 at night when he was preparing for bed. Sam handled it a lot better. He vented, he cried. He was okay. He still hurt, but he was going to be okay, and Castiel knew that. He wasn't so sure about Dean.

Castiel tried to get Dean to talk, he tried real hard. All it got him was a really nasty look and Castiel decided to hold off for a while before trying again.

As more time passed, Castiel grew more somber. Dean didn't get better. He seemed to get worse. And any time Castiel tried to get him into their old ways, he would snap.

"Dean, this won't get better if you stay quiet." Castiel reasoned for what seemed to be the eighty-seventh time since his father's passing. Dean remained silent. "I miss you."

"I'm fucking _sorry_ Cass but you know, my DAD just fucking died so you're going to have to suck it the fuck up or get lost." Castiel slumped where he sat and nodded.

The comment didn't bother him. Not really knowing what happened to his own father didn't bother him. If his father were to die or if he were to find out he was dead, Castiel would certainly not be bothered by it. It was the fact that him and Dean were perfect and now they were crumbling because Dean couldn't cope with his father's passing.

He felt selfish for thinking that way. Dean's father DID just die, but it was Sam's father too and Sam still talked to Jess. He still kissed Jess and hugged her and told her he loved her. Dean didn't do anything. He hadn't felt Dean's lips in weeks. Dean hasn't called him "angel" he didn't text him when he was at work, he barely ate dinner.

How do you help someone who doesn't want it? You can't. And that's what Castiel was going to have to learn.

Castiel loved Dean enough to put Dean's needs above his own. So he separated himself from Dean as best as he could. He didn't say good morning. He didn't make Dean's breakfast (he barely ate it anyway), he didn't text him at work and he didn't talk to Dean at all. He was craving Dean's attention by the end of the second day. He wanted Dean to talk to him. He wanted Dean to _miss_ him.

So Castiel slept on the couch.

"Are you guys okay?" Jess asked quietly after she saw Castiel comfortable on the couch the next morning. Castiel shrugged in response. "He really needs to learn better coping mechanisms." She sighed and pat his feet and he moved them so she could sit. She put his blanket over her bare legs.

"I'm sorry. I know this is hard on you too." She looked truly sorry. Castiel nodded.

"I don't know what more to do. I gave him space. I gave him more space. And I started sleeping here. I don't know what he wants, or doesn't want from me." Jess frowned at him and leaned over and laid on him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Castiel quickly returned the motion. It was the first contact he had in a while. He missed it.

He never cuddled with a girl before and found that Jess was really comfortable. And she smelled really sweet. Castiel felt glad to have a friend like her. She knew what he was dealing with. She got to see it first hand.

"Morning." Sam waved, walking out of the bedroom in pajama pants and no shirt. He was rubbing his face tiredly. "Why are you on the couch and why are you on Cass?" Both answered "Dean" which for Jessica's question, made no sense but Sam accepted it anyway. He sat on the small empty section of the couch and Jess cuddled into his side, Castiel missed the warmth.

"C'mere." Sam gestured and Jess tugged Castiel into their cuddle. "Dean will get better. It might take a while but he will." Sam promised. It felt good to hear.

"You guys having an orgy and didn't invite me?" Castiel's heart hammered against his chest. He couldn't wipe the smile off his face and he turned his head and saw Dean standing at the top of the stairs with a tired smile on his face.

"Dean." He breathed and jumped off the couch and slammed him into a hug.

"Whoa, buddy." Dean stumbled and Castiel didn't look up. His face was buried in Dean's neck. "Cass, it's okay." He wrapped his arms around Castiel and rubbed his back. "I'm okay."

"We're okay?" The question was muffled but Dean heard it regardless.

"Of course we're okay, angel." Castiel felt tears prick his eyes but refused to cry. He just held Dean and relished in the thought of everything being better from here. Dean smelled the same. He was the same Dean. This is the same way he used to hold Castiel. Everything was going to be fine.

But it wasn't.

Dean wasn't the same.

*)(^%%$*

Castiel fell back into their original routine. He got up, picked out Dean's clothes before Dean's alarm went off, and went to take a shower.

When he got out, he grabbed the towel and couldn't wipe the smile off his face.

It was warm.

)*^%($

Dean was acting normal, for the most part. At times he would zone out and no one could talk to him until he snapped back into reality. But he was doing well. Sam was always concerned that Dean didn't do much to cope but Castiel was too happy that Dean was giving him attention again that he hadn't noticed. Dean was smothering him with love and it was so exciting. He came home and saw flowers on the table one day and Jess smiled at him and said "they ain't mine". Dean never got him flowers before.

But just as the good times came, so did the bad.

Dean would fly off the handle so easily at the smallest things, but Castiel would try so hard to appease him, wanting Dean to regain to normal. For the most part it worked.

For example;

Castiel was in the kitchen stirring the sauce for the sausage and peppers when Dean walked in.

"You good with the garbage?" Dean asked and Castiel nodded. Dean walked over and pulled the garbage out of the can and the bag tore down the side. Dean pursed his lips and sent Castiel a look. "Who picked up these garbage bags?"

"I did." Castiel noticed the tear and quickly reached under the sink to grab another bag.

"No. Don't fucking bother because these shitty garbage bags will just fucking break. We've been buying the same god damn garbage bags for over a year. Why the hell did you buy a new one?!" Castiel stared at Dean with discomfort.

"They were out of the other ones..." He said quietly, extra bag in hand. "I'm sorry."

"Damn fucking right. Now I gotta clean up _this _damn mess because you got the wrong damn bag!" Castiel winced and nodded.

"It won't happen again. I apologize." Castiel hung his head and Dean snatched the bag from his hand and the pull on the bag ripped it. Castiel took a step backwards.

"SEE!? THIS IS WHY THESE GARBAGE BAGS ARE FUCKING USELESS! GOD DAMN IT, CASTIEL!" Castiel sucked in a breath. Dean never called him Castiel. Did that mean he didn't love him anymore?

"I'm sorry, I'll clean it up. You go inside. It's my fault." Castiel apologized profusely and Dean threw the garbage on the floor and stormed out of the room. Because he threw the bag there was garbage all across the floor. Castiel looked at the sauce and it was simmering still so he grabbed the dish washing gloves and a new bag and started picking up the mess.

He was breathing heavily. His heart beat painfully in his chest and he had to fight the urge to cry. He didn't want to lose Dean over garbage bags. He didn't want to lose Dean, period.

When he finally had most of the room clean, he looked back at the stove and noticed the sauce was bubbling over the pan and popping and smoking.

Castiel just collapsed on the floor and held his head.

"Why can't I do anything right?" He whispered to himself, a tear finally falling from his eye.

*)^%(^$

The next day Dean was completely normal. He kissed Castiel good morning when Castiel's alarm went off. The butterflies were back and Castiel beamed the entire morning.

Dean loved him again. Even after he ruined dinner and made a mess in the kitchen. It was okay because Dean was better now.

*)^%($

"Are you okay?" Gabriel eyed Castiel up and down. "You seem weird."

"I'm fine." Castiel said quickly and iced the cinnamon rolls.

"Listen, Cassie. I know something is bothering you. And I know you're all quiet for no reason other than to make people think you're an axe murderer or something but, for real? You can talk to me. I'll be your therapist. I'm a lot cheaper than one." Gabriel winked and then paused for a second. "No. Not what I meant. I'm not cheap. If you want sex, you're going to have to pay top dollar for this hot young steed."

"Gabriel." Castiel said desperately. "Just please, stop."

"Seriously." Gabriel's face softened. "I haven't seen you this down since Dean's pop kicked the bucket."

Gabriel was right. Him and Dean had another fight. This one, Dean punched a wall, right next to Castiel's head. It scared him for a good few hours. He was still scared now, he just wasn't shaking anymore.

The fight happened before Castiel got to work so it was still fresh in his mind. He hadn't even had time to apologize to Dean. He felt horrible.

This morning Castiel got up for work like he always did. He took a shower and got Dean's clothes ready. Usually Dean was up by now but Castiel figured Dean snoozed the alarm. He did that sometimes so Castiel went upstairs and started getting ready for work.

A half an hour later, Dean came upstairs with messy hair, rumpled clothes and a crazed look on his face.

"Why didn't you wake me up!?" Castiel gawked at him. He could only shrug. "You _know_ I have to be at work early today! You _know _it's important! Why the fuck didn't you wake me up!?"

"I-I thought you just.."

"No! You didn't _think_, because you _don't _think. And I'm getting really tired of your shit." Castiel felt so ashamed. He let Dean down _again_. Why did this keep happening? He really tried. But Dean didn't like the silence and he was freaking out about being late and how he didn't have time for breakfast so the next time he was going to eat wouldn't be until lunch. Then he got a text saying "where are you?" and whirled around and punched the wall.

If it had been six inches to the left, he would've punched Castiel in the face.

Dean left then, he left Castiel to stand there in horror even passed when Sam and Jess rushed out of the room after the sound of the front door being slammed shut.

So yeah, Castiel was in a terribly bad mood. But worst of all is he didn't know how to fix it. How could he justify not waking up Dean? He should've remembered Dean had to be up. He should've woken him up. But he didn't and now Dean's work could suffer.

Just thinking about the morning gave him chills. He wanted Dean to text him so badly. He wanted Dean to smile at him. He wanted Dean to forgive him.

Castiel's eyebrows pushed together in frustration and he realized that he was taking his anger out on the cinnamon rolls. They probably had triple the amount of frosting and they looked like they were dying.

"My kind of cinnamon roll." Gabriel grinned and grabbed one and started eating it. Castiel just stared at him. "What?" He asked innocently. The door chimed and Castiel turned around and saw Dean. His heart got caught in his throat. For a minute he couldn't breath. He wanted to run over to Dean and hug him. But was he allowed?

"Hey, black coffee please." Gabriel put down his cinnamon roll.

"Thank god you're here. Cassie has been in a shitty mood all damn day. Maybe you could talk to him." Castiel tensed up. Would Dean think Castiel was blaming him for the bad mood? Would Dean be mad at him? But with one look at Dean's soft smiling face, Castiel was eased.

"Come here, angel." Castiel followed Dean's orders. Dean tilted his chin up. "Don't be in a bad mood. Everything is okay." He kissed Castiel and Castiel swore he thought he melted into it.

"Love you." Castiel blurred out and turned pink.

"Forever. Like you foralways." Dean finished and Castiel fell in love all over again.

* * *

Like I said when this started, both are going to be accountable at some point. So as sorry as you feel for Castiel, he's going to fuck up too. :)

Review please. Let me know if I need to try harder to make you guys sad. It's my goal, really.


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